Mumbai: Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu won the men’s elite full marathon event while Kenya’s Bornes Kitur bagged the women’s title at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon here Sunday.
Simbu clocked two hours, nine minutes and 32 seconds to clinch the gold medal. Kenya’s Joshua Kirkorir took second spot with a time of 2:09:50s in a tough competition. Kirkorir’s compatriot Eliud Barbgetuny came third as he completed the distance in 2:10:39.
Till the 30km-mark, it was a close affair between the top three. However, after that Simbu seemed to have found extra breath as he surged ahead to win the race.
In the women’s category, Kitur triumphed in 02:29:02 seconds. Ethiopia’s Chaltu Tafa came second as she clocked 2:33:03s while her compatriot Tigist Girma (2:33:19s) bagged the bronze medal.
Among the Indians, Olympian Kheta Ram emerged first with a time of 2:19:51s followed by Bahadur Singh (2:19:57s) and Sanjith Luwang (2:21:27s) of Manipur. Among Indian women, Maharashtra’s Jyoti Gawte finished at first place with a timing of 02:50:53s while Shyamli Singh from West Bengal was second way with a time of 3:08:41s. Jigmet Dolma from Leh-Ladakh, who was running the Mumbai Marathon for the first time, clocked 3:14:38s to finish third.
Simbu said he trained in the hills in Tanzania for the event here which made him ‘perfect’ for the race.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s G Lakshmanan clocked 1:05:05s to win the men’s half marathon (21.097 km) race while Maharashtra’s Monika Athare finished on top in this segment of the women’s race.
PTI
