Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon 2010 on Feb 7th

This marathon, which started off in Delhi as the Rath Marathon in 1982, and recently had a rebirth in the form of Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon, will be held on Feb 7th, 2010. The last couple of years, the route they have used has been advertised as the proposed route for the Commonwealth Games 2010 Marathon event. The event is supported by the Athletics Federation of India.

Events

• Marathon
• Half Marathon

Race Route Map

Mawana Marathon Route

The above route shows the loop for the marathon which is 21KM, so a couple of loops are to be run for the marathon. The route runs through the heart of Delhi, starting very close to the India Gate.

Race Registration and Entry Fees

There is no online registration. To register, take a printout of the entry form available on the Mawana Sugars website, and submit at the addresses mentioned in the form:

• Mawana Sugars office at Rajendra Place
• Athletics Federation of India office at Panchkuian Road

Prize Money

The race offers Rs 2.5 Lakhs prize money for the winners of Mens and Womens marathon respectively, and there are prizes all the way down to position 20 for men and position 15 for women. For Half Marathon, winners take Rs 50,000 each, with top 30 positions awarded prize money in mens and 20 positions in women.

Run Infinity Recommendations

I ran the last year’s Mawana Marathon, and man was it tough! In the first loop, I had good company of a lot of runners, and good traffic arrangements, etc. However, in the second loop I ran almost the entire 21K alone, since there were not too many runners doing the 42K, and it was very difficult, not only to run without too much logistics/refreshments support, but even identifying the route was difficult.

For folks from Delhi, this is a good opportunity to take part in a marathon, and unless you are a decent runner who can do it within 4 hours or so, go ahead and do the full marathon. If you are not overwhelmed by conditions, not bothered by the late start of 9:00 am, inspired by running with “a lot of traffic” besides you, lack of water points in the second loop seems a challenge, go ahead and do the 42K. For everyone else, I would advise to run the Half Marathon.

By the way, the event organizers seem to be going tech savvy, having setup a Facebook Fan page to promote the event. They are also planning to launch a contest where participants are required to submit inspiring running photos, with awards for the top selected photos.

Tagged as: Delhi, India, Mawana Sugars Marathon