Tata Steel Marathon: Defending champions Ebenyo, Sutume target new event records
On a flatter course and in cooler weather, a competitive field, including in-form defending champions Daniel Ebenyo and Sutume Kebede, poses a threat to event records of the Tata Steel World 25K Kolkata, to be held here on Sunday.
Ebenyo and Sutume are keen to run fast and lower their event records, 1:11.13 and 1:18:47, in men’s and women’s events, respectively and claim the winner’s purse of $15,000 each apart from the record bonus of $5,000.
Apart from the return of the defending champions for the world’s richest 25K race, offering total prize money of $142,214, the participation of Olympic bronze medallist Benson Kipruto has lifted the profile of the first World Athletics Gold Label event.
The Indian field looks competitive too, due to the presence of title holder Sawan Barwal, 5000m and 10,000m National record holder Gulveer Singh, former champion Abhishek Pal in the men’s section and TCS World 10K winner Sanjivani Jadhav and Delhi half-marathon winner and local girl Lili Das in the women’s section.
The Indian winners will get ₹3 lakh each. An event record will fetch an additional ₹1 lakh.
The event records for Indians stand in the names of Olympian steeplechaser Avinash Sable (1:15:17) and L. Suriya (1:26:53) in men’s and women’s sections, respectively.
20,537 runners have registered for the event.