Updates on upcoming marathon events at Thane, Chandigarh and Pune, which are not still at the level of the hotshots like the Mumbai marathon or the Delhi Half Marathon, but some of them have been around for ages, so just a heads up.
Jul 12 – Thane Varsha Marathon (check TOI article for details)
Dec 6 – Pune International Marathon (check Pune marathon website for details)
Feb 2010 – Chandigarh Marathon (check Sify news for details)
The Thane Varsha marathon is one of the oldest marathons in India and this will be the 20th edition of the run (Rs 2.5 lakh prize money). Why Varsha? Because it always happens when in pours in the monsoon months!
The Chandigarh marathon will be a first time event, and looks promising with the way the organizers are intending to promote this, and the associated prize money of Rs 10 Lakh, smaller than what the biggest marathons in India offer, but bigger than what most small city marathons offer. I am quite excited to see how this one goes, it is close by for me from Delhi, and very doable.
Pune marathon is more known for its idiosyncrasies, like having cutoffs of 1 hr 30 mins at 21K mark for the marathon, which I must say very few apart from the elite Indian athletes can hope to achieve. Also, runners at last years event went off the route along with the lead vehicle and were disqualified. They have a prize money budget of about 15 lakhs and attracts a lot of international athletes for the moolah.
Of course, the Indian running season has a lot more to look forward to, we are just entering the golden months now. Check out the entire season calendar at:
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The Pune marathon could be marketed as the toughest marathon in India
Maybe, India's Boston.
@Rohit: Well said, at least the standards on paper seem to be similar
1:30 half would be 3:10 marathon, same as a Boston qualifier!
do we have the pune marathon this year. nothing on the website talks about 2009
@Pramod: Pune marathon has been happening for probably 20+ years, so it will happen. Website update happens only on time for the Mumbai marathon, nothing else.
plz give information of chandigarh and kolkata marathon 2010 registration
I am also pleased that comes and participate in the first chandigarh marathon 2010. I requested to God to success every persons in the participants
the chandigarh marathon should be over now…what are the timings for the various events?