Tirtha Pun wins 2023 Vasai Virar Municipal Marathon

Tirtha Pun of the army’s Gorkha Regiment took top honours at the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation Marathon held on Sunday, December 10, 2023.

He won the marathon, covering the distance in two hours, 21 minutes and 48 seconds. Defending champion Mohit Rathor (2:26:43) had to settle for the second position after he suffered cramps at around the 30th kilometre. Tadakhe Sikandar Chindhu from Uttarakhand finished third with timing of 2:28:36.

Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation Marathon was organised by the Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation and the Vasai Taluka Kala Krida Vikas Mandal.

M D Nurhasan was the winner of the men’s half marathon. He covered the distance in 1:04:45, eight seconds outside the course record of 1:04:37 set by Anish Thapa in 2022. Puneet Yadav finished second with timing of 1:04:49 and Arun Rathod finished third in 1:04:53.

In the women’s half marathon race, Prajakta Godbole was the winner with timing of 1:18:12. In second place was Tamsi Singh (1:20:09) and in third place, Phoolan Pal (1:20:28).

In the open category, Manoj Kumar Yadav was the winner of the men’s race with timing of 2:27:25; Ashvini Jadhav (3:06:38) won the women’s race.

(The author, Latha Venkatraman, is an independent journalist based in Mumbai)