25-year-old Tiwari clocked 1:24:04, leaving the 2nd best full 4 minutes behind.
In sport, there’s a winner, and then there’s a runaway winner. Kiran Tiwari was literally the latter as she brushed aside her competitors without much ado to win the 21-km Stayfree Women For Change DNA I CAN Women’s Marathon in 01:24:04.
So dominating was the 25-year-old’s performance that she crossed the finish line a good four minutes before the next best, Neelam Rajput.
Nikita Nagpure, 23, ended third with a timing of 01:29:01.
Kiran, who hails from Uttarakhand and works as a senior clerk in the Western Railway, ran her first DNA I Can half marathon this year. She said she had to participate as it was a marathon exclusively for women. “It was fairly easy. The climate was pleasant and the track was good. I wish there was more competition, though,” Kiran said.
It was indeed an easy run.She was leading in most part of the race and maintained the huge lead in laps two and three after she broke away from the group early in the first lap. The railway woman, who constantly kept checking her watch, inspired other participants to push themselves.
Kiran, who looks up to compatriot Sudha Singh, had won the bronze medal in the 2009 Asian Championships in China in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase event with a timing of 10:34.55.
She aims to do an encore in the upcoming Asian Championships in July but with a better timing.
She took to running as a child when her father used to take her to stadiums in Uttarakhand, and while it is almost a norm these days for athletes to train in high-tech gyms and treadmills, Kiran prefers running on open grounds.
Her training schedule includes running for around an hour twice a day and a gruelling 25-km run on Saturdays. During her stint at the national camp in Bangalore, she loved going for runs in the hilly Ooty region, as she says high-altitude regions are ideal for rigorous training.
Asked what she would do with the Rs1,00,000 she won, she said, “Most of it would go towards buying my sportswear and other equipment.”
Marriage does not figure in her priority list. “I will keep running till my body is fit, no matter what,” she said.
Rest assured, she will be up and running next year as well!
@RutvickMehta
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