Binning, Sukanya nail it again, win Mawana Sugars Open Marathon

New Delhi: A bright Sunday morning and a bevy of running enthusiasts, the capital viewed the Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon on Sunday. Binning Lyngkhoi and Sukanya Mall, added a second Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon title to their list by standing first in the men’s and the women’s title respectively.

Lyngkhoi’s earlier win in the Mawana Sugars Indian Open marathon, came in 2008 edition. Sukanya’s first win in Indian open marathon came in 2010.

The race took place in the heart of the capital, India Gate, giving a fresh athletic appeal to the Sunday morning.

The race was flagged off by two of India’s athletic greats. PT Usha, India’s best-known and most successful women’s athlete ever, and Praveen Kumar, a former Asian Games discus throw medalist, flagged off the race, which had more than 9,000 starters in various categories and distances.

Amongst all the happy runners stood P.T Usha all happy and motivating runners “It is very different feeling and nice to see distance runners running like this and this will enable them to get to what they want to achieve and will also further motivate them”

Women half marathon saw Sunita Pal winning at one hour twenty minutes and forty seconds. And men’s saw Pritam Bind coming out with One hour, five minute and twenty six seconds.

What was thrilling to see was that people weren’t interested in the winning part, but were more exited to be a part of the marathon.

“It is very little seen that people come out and participate in such healthy sports, infact I had expected very less number of people here, but I’m very pleasantly surprised to see so many people not only running but also cheering, I’m very happy,” said a beaming Palash.

Started as a precursor to the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, the marathon was started as the Rath Marathon and then re-named as the Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon in 2006. The event was held with out a break, barring 1990, from 1982 to 1999. It was then revived in 2006 as the Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon.

Over the years, the event has produced champions like Asha Aggarwal, Suman Mehta Rawat, Sunita Godara and Rigzen Angmo, many of who have national awards including the coveted Arjuna Award.


By Ronisha Bhattacharyya
Indian Sports News