Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon flagged off

Mumbai, Jan 20: The fifth edition of the Standard Chartered Mumbai marathon was Sunday flagged off with over 33,000 participants taking part in the event carrying a prize money of USD one million.

The event consists of a 42-km-long marathon, 21-km-long half-marathon, senior citizens' run, wheel chair event and a six-km-long "dream" run. Actors John Abraham and Bipasha Basu, city mayor Shubha Raul, municipal commissioner Jairaj Phatak and city police commissioner D N Jadav were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.

With the theme of the marathon being conservation of the environment, the organisers asked people to pledge their support for the cause.

The rally started early at 6.45 near the Chhattrapati Shivaji terminal. Its route is through Wankhede stadium and Worli till Bandra.

From Bandra the marathon runners will turn south and make their way back to the Chhattrapati Shivaji terminal.

A total of 54 teams from 34 countries are competing this year including defending champions Kenya. USA, Germany, Brazil, Peru, Russia and Lebanon are making their debut in this year's rally.

Nearly 33,000 runners are competing in different races including the full marathon, half marathon, six-kilometer dream run event, senior citizen run and wheelchair event.

Sources