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Mumbai Marathon: Runner Simbu's plan to counter city's steep slopes

Updated on: 16 January,2017 10:57 AM IST  | 
Noel D'Souza |

Champ in Elite men's group Simbu says his training regime included running on hills of Tanzania to cope with Mumbai's steep slopes and sharp curves

Mumbai Marathon: Runner Simbu's plan to counter city's steep slopes

Alphonce Felix Simbu

Tanzania’s Simbu crosses the finish line after completing the men’s Elite category marathon at CST station yesterday. Pic/Shadab Khan
Tanzania’s Simbu crosses the finish line after completing the men’s Elite category marathon at CST station yesterday. Pic/Shadab Khan


When the elite athletes stepped out for the Mumbai Marathon at the starting point just in front of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station yesterday, big names such as last year's winner Gideon Kipketer (02:08:35) of Kenya and fastest Indian Nitendra Singh Rawat (02:15:48) were missing in the charts. Kenya's Levy Matebo grabbed honours as the fastest athlete before the race. However, that wasn't the story two hours nine minutes and 32 seconds after 7.20am when the race kicked off. The only Tanzanian in the line up — Alphonce Simbu bagged gold leaving Matebo (2:13:05) in eighth position.


Tough fight for gold
Simbu, facing stiff competition from Kenyan Joshua Kipkorir (2:09:50), strode to victory earning a USD 42,000 purse. Both Simbu and Kipkorir, who clinched silver, were neck to neck till the 21.1km mark. Once both athletes touched 40km, Simbu showed displayed his skill. "Joshua was very fast, but I told him to relax. When we reached the 40km mark we fought for the finish. The last one kilometer I decided to burst," Simbu said yesterday.


Although not improving on his personal best of 2:09:19 he achieved in March last year, Simbu, who finished fifth in the Rio Olympics with a timing of 2:11:15, felt he would win in Mumbai.

"I never won in any marathon so Mumbai was lucky to me. If they invite me next year, then I'll come," he added. Simbu, who hails from the Singida region in Tanzania, reckoned Mumbai's course was pretty tough, but he came well prepared.

"This course has many hills and corners so when you approach them your pace slows down. One of the athletes who participated in the marathon last year told me that I have to train in the hills especially when it's warm.

Simbu follows instructions
He told me to be very competitive. I did exactly just that. I used to run on the hills and trained in adverse conditions. I used to strain my leg muscles a lot by going on a route which had a hilly terrain. I was ready for this competition," Simbu, who put on his marathon shoes in 2015, said.

Sharing his Rio experience, the coy athlete said: "Rio Olympics was tough as you are competing with the best from the world. I went about my preparations in the same way, running on the hills of Tanzania. When you compete in many races, you automatically get that experience as you come across different levels of competition."

Among the Indians, Olympian Kheta Ram, who was eyeing to better his personal best of 2:15:26 clocked at Rio last year, came first in 2:19:51. Bahadur Singh Dhoni came second with a time of 2:19:57 while Sanjith Luwang of Manipur was third in 2:21:19.

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