Anti-terrorism cells to monitor Mumbai Marathon

Mumbai: In the wake of bomb explosion at the Boston Marathon in USA, the city police here is taking extra precaution to see no untoward incident takes place during this Sunday's 11th Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.

Three persons were killed and over 250 were injured in the Boston event, held in April, 2013.

"After the blast in the Boston Marathon, we have to be extra cautious. We are going to deploy 22 anti-terrorism and anti-sabotage squads to monitor the race from high rises as well as from the ground along the (42.195-km) marathon route," said Krishna Prakash, Additional Commissioner of Police (South Mumbai) at a SCMM media conference today.

"The start and end points are vulnerable as also the middle points. We are trying to put in place a fool proof arrangement. We have to be extra cautious," said ACP Prakash, adding that spectators will be frisked at random.

Last year's Boston Marathon held on April 15 saw two pressure cooker bombs explode near the finish line killing 3 and injuring over 260 persons.

Besides, 200 police commandos are also to take part in the half marathon on January 19 and there would be a separate competition for the Mumbai police personnel via a relay race covering the full distance for the Police Cup and cash prizes of Rs 40,000 to the winners and Rs 20,000 for the runners-up.

ACP Prakash will also run the half marathon after deploying his personnel along with another top cop Vishwas Nagre-Patil, he said.

The route for the USD 360,000 prize money race, starting at Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus to Worli and then to Bandra via the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link and back the same way to end at CST, remains unaltered from last year, said race director Hugh Jones.

"The course is exactly the same as last year, including some innovations that we had done to enhance the racing experience for the runners, like making the two U-turns (at Nariman Point and Bandra end of Sea Link) less severe so that the runners do not have to slow down," he said.

Jones hoped that the Indian elite runners trying to attain the qualifying mark for this year's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, would also find the conditions better to run and achieve their aim. Lynghkoi Binning and Lalita Babbar, who were the top finishers among Indian men and women last year, would lead the home nation's elite field of runners for the full race.

The event has attracted the cream of India's long distance runners, all vying for a piece of the overall prize money as well as separate Indian prize fund, which will see the Indian full marathon winners getting richer by Rs 5 lakh each.

Binning, a three-time top finisher among Indians earlier, will face tough opposition from the fastest athlete in the field, London Olympian Ram Singh Yadav, returning after a one-year break.

A total number of 28 elite Indian full marathoners will take the starter's flag among men. In the women's full marathon, Lalita would face competition from Vijay Mala Patil and Rohini Raut, who finished second and third, respectively, last year.

Besides, the men's and women's half marathon has attracted top entries of 2012 winner Shoji Mathew, BC Tilak, Indrajeet Patel, Yogesh Sardesai, Ajay Bir Singh and Vishram Meena, among men, and Asian Games track medalists Sudha Singh and Kavita Raut, among women.

Kenyan Evans Cheruiyot, with a personal best of 2:06.25 leads the high quality international men's elite athlete field, which has no less than 16 athletes who have personal bests of below 2:10, and is the hot shot for the winner's purse of USD 41,000.

Cheruiyot is a former Chicago Marathon winner, who also excels in the half marathon, having run five times below 60.00 in his career. As the fastest man in the field, he is one of the favourites to run away with the crown.

The second fastest man is Ethiopian Eshetu Wendimu, with a personal best of 2:06.46. A steady performer, Wendimu has run most of his marathons below 2:09, while finishing in the top 3. Countryman Hailu Mekonnen is another of the favourites, with a personal best of 2:07.35.

Among the women, Ethiopian Dinknesh Mekash leads the field with a personal best of 2:25.09. Dinknesh, runner-up last year in Mumbai, improved her personal best in Paris 2013 and is expected to clock around 2:25 when she runs in Mumbai.