Though the organisers have yet to announce the participation of overseas elite athletes, they are expecting few in a 42k run.
Dr Ashish Contractor (left), Inspector General of Police Krishna Prakash and Meena Dave of Care India Foundation during a press conference at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. Pic/Suresh Karkera
The Police force make their presence felt at most big sporting events. But come Sunday, they will be on the other side of the fence as it were.
Around 6,000 police personnel will run the inaugural Maharashtra Police International Marathon which will attract a total of 17,000- plus participants which will include 700 full marathoners, 3250 half marathoners, 5576 runners in 16k category while 7907 athletes will be part of the 5k category.
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Around 50 top Indian male and female elite athletes will be competing for the top honours, including Allahabad marathon winner Rahul Pal, who has a personal best full marathon timing of 2:21:52. He will be challenged by Prahlad Singh, Jitendra Singh and Santosh Patel.
Jyoti Gawate
In the women's category Jyoti Gawate, who finished runner up in Mumbai Marathon last month, will have to contest with Ritu Pal and Shalmali Singh for the top position.
Though the organisers have yet to announce the participation of overseas elite athletes, they are expecting few in 42k run.
Inspector General of Police (Admin), Krishna Prakash (IPS), who is the only Indian in government service to finish the Ironman triathlon is the Maharashtra Police International Marathon race director. Prakash said there will be separate prizes for the first three positions among Maharashtra police personnel.
"There was no running event which would directly target personnel from the police force. The Maharashtra Police International Marathon aims to inspire each and every police officer, irrespective of rank, gender and age to get super fit through the simple task of running," Prakash said during the press conference at Royal Bombay Yacht Club on Thursday.
The full marathon will be flagged off from Gateway of India at 5 am, while half marathon, 16k run will start from the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link in Bandra.
Bollywood stars Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar are expected to grace race day for this R73,46,000 prize money marathon.
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