New Delhi ‘National’ Marathon to be held on February 25

The ninth edition of New Delhi Marathon, recognised by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) as a national event and a qualifying meet for Paris Olympics, will be held at the JLN Stadium here on February 25.

The top five finishers among the elite runners — both men and women — will receive prize money. Both the men’s and women’s marathon winners will pocket Rs 1.5 lakh while the second place finishers will get Rs 1 lakh.

The third, fourth and fifth place finishers will win Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 30,000, respectively.

The Paris Olympics marathon race qualifying times for men and women are 2 hours, 8 minutes and 10 seconds and 2 hours, 26 minutes and 50 seconds, respectively.

No Indian marathoner ran in the Tokyo Olympics and no one has qualified for Paris Games so far. The qualifying window closes on June 30.

Last year, Man Singh won the men’s elite race in a time of 02:14:13 while Jyoti Shankar Gawate took the top prize among women with 02:53:04.