Mumbai Marathon ups prize money to USD 2.4 lakh

MUMBAI: The fifth Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, to be run on the western side streets of the metropolis on January 20, has enhanced its prize money to USD 2.4 lakh and has attracted 40 of the world's top 100 marathoners.

Thirty thousand participants are expected to take part in the richest marathon in Asia, which has upped the prize money by USD 10,000 as compared to the previous one, in six categories.

The categories include the full marathon (42.195 kms) and half marathon (21 kms), other than others mainly run for charitable purposes, it was announced at a media conference last night.

Kenya's John Kelai and China's Xia Yang Feng had won the 2007 full marathon for men and women respectively in 2  hours, 12 minutes and 27 seconds and 2:36.16.

The Mumbai event is also one part of the four-legged greatest Race on Earth which, offers a combined prize pool of USD one million involving 53 teams from 34 countries, the other legs being Nairobi, Singapur and Hong Kong .

There are separate prizes for the top finishers among Indian men and women. Ram Singh Yadav was the best performer among the country's male runners while Leelamma Alphonso made it back to back victories by being the best of the women runners in the 2007 event.

Around Rs 8 crore was raised for charity, for the benefit of 144 non government organisations, in the previous edition and the organizers said they hoped to double it this year.

The entries for various categories are to close on December 8.