Pal to lead men's full marathon field in Vasai-Virar Marathon

The 9th edition of the Vasai Virar Marathon will be held on December 8, wherein Army's Rahul Pal will head the men's full marathon field.

Asian Marathon champion Gopi T would be the guest of honour for the '9th Indiabulls Home Loans Vasai Virar Marathon', announced its Mayor Pravin Shetty.

Around 900 full marathoners, 3,900 half marathoners, 3,400 plus 11-km runners are expected to take part in the event, a media statement said.

The full marathon men's field will be headed by Rahul Pal of the Army, who has a personal best of 2:21.52 and is the winner of the Allahabad Marathon 2019.

He will be challenged by Harendra Chauhan, who finished runner-up behind him.

Also posing a strong challenge will be Mohit Rathore, Pune's Brahmprakash and Air Force's Sukhdev Singh.

The men's half marathon will be spearheaded by defending champion Shankar Man Thapa, who also finished third at the Mumbai Marathon and is also the National Cross Country champion.

The women's half marathon will be spearheaded by Arti Patil, who finished third last year, but has improved her performance, along with Swati Gadhave of Railways, Arpita Saini from UP and Gargi Sharma from Himachal Pradesh.

The winner of the full marathon for men stands to gain an award of Rs 2.50 lakh, while the male and female winners of half marathon will take home Rs 1.25 lakh each, it added.