Indian Open Marathon on Dec 23

NEW DELHI: Prominent athletes like Sunita Rani and Sunita Godra will vie for honours at the Mawana Sugars Indian Open Marathon, the first event on the route to be used for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, here on December 23.
    
With a total prize money of Rs 12 lakh, the event will have competitions in men, women and senior citizen categories.
    
Winners in men and women categories will earn a purse of Rs 2 lakh each in full marathon while the winners in half-marathon will be richer by Rs 25,000 each.
    
The event, being conducted by the Athletics Federation of India, has got national status which means the participants can also earn ranking points.
    
The marathon will start from Guru Harkrishan Public School before concluding at the same spot.
    
"It will be the first race on this track before the Commonwealth Games and conducting it will give the Delhi Traffic Police and the Games Organising Committee the scope for a trial on the track," Siddarth Shriram, Chairman of Mawana Sugars Limited, said here on Saturday.
    
"The route is exactly the same except that the Games race will start from a stadium. As the stadia are being renovated for the Games, we are starting the race from GHPS School," Shriram added.
    
The organisers are expecting around 2000 participants for the race for which the entry fee is Rs 10.
    
Shriram said the Mawana Group was keen to sign a five-year agreement with AFI for organising a marathon in Delhi during every winter.