Kochi Marathon 2023: Jyoti Gawate, Arjun Pradhan to lead elite pack

Kochi (Kerala) [India], May 1 (ANI): National champion Jyoti Gawate and Arjun Pradhan will lead the women’s and men’s elite field respectively in the Kochi Marathon 2023 to be held on Monday.

The Kochi marathon will flag off from Maharaja’s College Ground and will take place in four categories of Marathon (42.195km), Half Marathon (21.097km), 10km Run and 3km Green Run. Over 6000 runners from 20 states have registered for the marathon across India.
Among the top runners in the women’s elite category is Jyoti Gawate who won New Delhi Marathon by completing the marathon distance in 02:53:04 her personal best is 2:45:48 while her best in the 25 kilometres is 1:35:35. Jyoti will fight for the top honours along with Ashvini Jadhav who has a best of 3:00:54 Ashvini’s best in 10 km is 40:34.

Arpita Saini whose personal best for the marathon is 3:14:20 will also compete in the women’s elite category. Arpita Saini has the personal best of 1:20:00 in the half marathon while her best in the 10 km mark is 37:36

In the men’s elite category, the field will be led by Arjun Pradhan who has his personal best timing at 2:20:06 his personal best for the half marathon is 1:05:30.

Arjun will be challenged by the likes of Anil Kumar Yadav whose best time was at the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K run 1:19:57 another participant in the marathon elite men’s category is Vipul Kumar who has a personal best of 02:33:06 whereas Neeraj Kumar Maurya with his best half marathon timing of 1:08:01 is also in the fray.

There are two other prominent runners for the half marathon, including Amarjeet Singh Chawla, who is visually impaired and has successfully completed 146 half marathons and 229 runs. Lata Alimchandani who is the first Indian woman over 60 to complete the world marathon majors will also take part in the half marathon.

The runners of these races will compete for a total prize money pool of Rs 10 lakh.