Well, as the running seasons gets to a close, there is a deluge of marathons around the country, with the Auroville marathon on Feb 15, Chennai marathon also on Feb 15. And now, a couple of marathons taking place on Feb 22nd. First, the Running and Living marathon at Gurgaon, and now the Airtel Kolkata marathon. Four marathons in India within a weeks time, now
that’s what I would call really amazing!
Event website: http://www.kolkatamarathon.com/
The 5th Airtel Kolkata marathon has the following events:
- Marathon (42KM, Mens)
- Ladies run (10.5KM, Womens)
- SAIL Celebrity/Fun run (4.2KM)
Registration fees for the Main Marathon is Rs. 100, the Women’s Marathon is Rs. 50 and the Fun Run is Rs. 30.
Perhaps they could have added the third sex as an eligibility for the SAIL Celebrity/Fun run. I wonder why they restrict everyone from choosing the event they want to run. 20,000 persons are expected to take part in the runs, though I am sure that there would be no more than a few hundred combined for the Marathon and the Ladies run (the organizers are expecting 500 runners for the marathon). The website has no details of registration, and a scanned route map is available. A website for the sake of a website.
The 4th Kolkata marathon (2008) was won by Bhairon Singh Lone of Madhya Pradesh in a time of 2:20:53. Angad Kumar of Uttaranchal (2:21:39) was second, followed by Bipul Saharia of Assam (2:24:00). Pampa Chanda of Bengal won the ladies run (10.5K) with a time of 44:46. V.R. Lakshmi of Mumbai was second (44:45), while Reena Das of Bengal was third (46:44).