Over 31,000 took part in Airtel Delhi Half Marathon; Ethiopian Atsedu Tsegay won

Sounds of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag reverberated off the walls of Jawaharlal Nehru stadium as Delhi took to the roads. Sunday morning saw the flag off of the ninth edition of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon here with over 31,000 people participating in the event.

The run carried a prize money of approximately Rs 1.3 crore ($2,10,000). Prize money of Rs 15 lakh ($25,000) each went to this years winners, Ethiopian Atsedu Tsegay (men) and Kenya’s Gladys Cherono of the women’s category. The half marathon covered a distance of 21 kms between JN Stadium and Central Secretariat.

Athlete Milkha Singh, Canadian sprinter Donovon Bailey along with actor Bipasha Basu (who is also the face of the ADHM) turned up to boost the runners’ confidence.


And India Inc wasn’t far behind. Representing their companies were honchos and running enthusiasts Anil Ambani, Gopal Vittal (Airtel) and N Chandrasekaran (TCS).

Along with this, 32 corporate brands sent across 61 teams for the DHL Corporate Champions sub-event.

Seasoned marathoner and athlete, actor Rahul Bose too completed the race in just under two hours. Though Bose admits he never trains for marathons and he finds it “exceedingly boring to train for them.” But he concentrates on basic all-round fitness and plays squash and rugby to prepare.

Sanjay Kapoor of Genesis Luxury who was running the marathon for a fifth year this time clocked a time of just under two hours. ”I don’t really have a routine to prepare but I train for a couple of months beforehand,” he told ET.

Vijay Nehra, general manager, customer service, HUL and Amit Dalmia. executive director of private equity group Blackstone flew down from Mumbai for the marathon. “We’re regulars and have done a couple of 42 kms marathons in Mumbai in the last couple of years. Beyond work, we find that it helps us become a part of a larger circle that takes fitness very seriously,” says Nehra.

The capital city saw its first run in 2005 when the first edition of the Delhi Half Marathon was unveiled. The first year alone attracted around 4000 entries for the half marathon. The number doubled by next year. This year 31,100 runners participated in the run of which and is the fifth year since Airtel took the title ownership of the marathon since 2008. Prior to this, telecom provider Vodafone had the title sponsorship.

Airtel hopes to raise over Rs 4 crore from charity for the event.