Over 30,000 participate in Thane half marathon

About 32,000 people participated in the 22nd Thane Mayor Varsha Marathon 2011 held on Sunday.

Defending champion Deepak Kumar from Pune secured the first slot this year too by defeating Parshuram Bhoi from Kolhapur and Shashikant from Indian Air Force, who stood second and third respectively in the 21-km-long run.

Deepak won in record time of 1:10:58 in the half-marathon event.

Monica Attre won the 'under-15 girls' category clocking 1:02:08 followed by Supriya Patil (1:02:16) and Minakshi Patil (1:03:45).

Yuva Sena leader Aditya Thackeray with Thane Mayor Ashok Vaity and MLA Eknath Shinde flagged off the event.

Thackeray also participated in the run for a short while.

The prizes were distributed by Minister of State for Tribal Development, Rajendra Gavit, Thane Mayor Ashok Vaity, Municipal Commissioner RA Rajeev, MP Anand Paranjape among others.

Senior citizens also participated in large numbers in the event.

A one-minute silence was observed in memory of the 13/7 blast victims.