Mumbai: It was evident at the press conference of the elite Indian half-marathon podium finishers yesterday that running, or even winning, the 21.097 km race was not a priority for most of the top finishers.
<img title="From left: Kiran Sahdev, Kavita Raut, Sudha Singh, Indrajeet Patel, Soji Matthew and Man Singh. Pic/Amit Kamath" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/jan/20Kiran-Sahdev.jpg" alt="From left: Kiran Sahdev, Kavita Raut, Sudha Singh, Indrajeet Patel, Soji Matthew and Man Singh. Pic/Amit Kamath" /> From left: Kiran Sahdev, Kavita Raut, Sudha Singh, Indrajeet Patel, Soji Matthew and Man Singh. Pic/Amit Kamath
That&rsquo;s because these runners are essentially track and field athletes and only treat the marathon as a way to increase make some money and in the bargain also boost their endurance.
Arjuna awardee Sudha Singh, who pocketed a cool Rs 1.25 lakh by finishing with a timing of 1:18:24 secs, said: &ldquo;We just ran 18 kms on Wednesday. We have our training session again on Tuesday. Winning here was not a priority, we only competed as a part of practice.
Currently we&rsquo;re training for the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games later this year. We are not usually allowed to participate in marathons, but this time our coach said &lsquo;participate only for the mileage&rsquo;.
And we got to make some money too,&rdquo; said Singh, who holds the national record in steeplechase and is the reigning Asian Games 2010 steeplechase champion.
Kavita Raut, who finished second with a timing of 1:21:15 secs, added: &ldquo;We are long-distance runners, so we need the mileage and the endurance.
&ldquo;This also helps in getting us some publicity and we gain some valuable confidence too for the upcoming competitions. So, these events (marathons) are very beneficial.&rdquo;
Their mindset seems to have rubbed off on 21-year-old rookie Kiran Sahdev, who finished third in her very first half-marathon.
Sahdev said, &ldquo;I just wanted to finish the race, winning was not on my mind. My first priority is track events and then the marathon. I just want to run one or two marathons (a year). My aim is to represent India at the Olympics.&rdquo;
Meanwhile, the men&rsquo;s half-marathon winner in the Indian elite category, Indrajeet Patel, said, &ldquo;Last year my performance wasn&rsquo;t good at marathons as I was not preparing for marathons. I was instead focusing on the track events. Our main focus is track events. Since our payment is not good enough to sustain ourselves, we participate in marathons.&rdquo;

India&rsquo;s half-marathon podium finishers delighted with financial gains, but pet track events remain a priority

Mumbai Marathon: Tracking glory

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Mumbai Marathon: Tracking glory

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