Tirtha Pun sets course record for Pune Half Marathon

Pune: The morning of the Pune Half Marathon, witnessed a carnival-like atmosphere in the city involving over 20,000 citizens. From toddlers to elders to corporates to pros, people from across the nation turned out in numbers at the second edition of the half marathon.

Tirtha Pun (1:05:54) set a course record bettering Pradeep Singh's timing (1:06:08) of 2018 in the half marathon (21.1K) category. The same category saw Man Singh come second for the consecutive year with a timing of 1:07:15 and the third position was bagged by Vikram B who clocked 1:07:47. In the overall women's category, Swati Gadhave was the winner with a time of 1:20:23, followed by Jyoti Gawte and Nayak Kirdak with timings of 1:21:28 and 1:23:38 respectively on Sunday.

Pun, who belongs to the Gorkha Regiment of the Armed Forces, expressed his happiness after the win and praised the city's climate.

"This is the first time that I have won the Pune Half Marathon and it's my first time in the city as well. I am delighted, and the weather conditions were truly very apt for running," said Pun, who hails from Hyderabad.

The event saw 29% female participants. Swati Gadhave bagged the most prized silverware among women, having won the women's half marathon. "It was a great race and one of the best that I have run in quite some time. I am thankful to the organisers for conducting the race so well," said Swati. There were participants from 26 Indian states/union territories with the maximum participants (47%) in the 5K category. Over 15% of the participants were from outside Pune. Seeing the successful culmination of the second edition, the organisers of BAPHM also announced the dates for the next edition. The 2020 edition will be held on December 13, 2020. IANS

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