Kartik Karkera and Nirmaben Thakor won the men’s and women’s marathon race at the Cognizant New Delhi Marathon 2026 held on February 22.

Kartik won the race in two hours, 13 minutes and 10 seconds, a huge improvement from his win a month ago at Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026 where he finished the race in 2:19:55.

The men’s race was a tight finish. Finishing two seconds after Kartik was Gopi Thonakal, veteran marathon runner, and the second fastest Indian marathon runner. Man Singh, the defending champion, finished three seconds after Gopi at 2:13:15.

All the three top finishers have qualified for the Asian Games. The qualifying mark as per Athletic Federation of India (AFI) was 2.15.04. The continental games are slated to be held in Japan in September this year.

In the women’s race, Nirmaben Thakor won with a finish of 2:41:15, a stupendous improvement in her personal timing. Defending champion Bhagirathi Bisht came in second with a finish of 2:43:28. In third position was Ashwini Jadhav with a finish of 2:56:59.

Certified by AFI as the National Marathon, the New Delhi Marathon is a coveted marathon course as runners are able to improve their timings. The flat course of the New Delhi Marathon route and the cool February weather assist runners in improving their timings. Often times, the gains have been substantial.

Media reports pointed out that over 30,000 runners took to the streets of Delhi to run varying distances as part of the New Delhi Marathon.

The blog spoke to a few of the winners about their experience running the marathon.

In December 2025, Gopi Thonakal came quite close to the long-standing marathon national record when he crossed the finish line of Valencia Marathon with a timing of 2:12:23. The national record of 2:12 was set way back in 1978 by Shivnath Singh.

Gopi has been training in Bengaluru for many years but for the last six months he has moved his base to Ooty to train on a hilly terrain and higher altitude. Gopi believes the Ooty training has helped him to secure a substantial improvement in his timing at Valencia Marathon.

“My training for New Delhi Marathon went off quite well. I came into the race quite confidently,” said Gopi. But the 4 am start at Delhi was a dampener. “I did not sleep a wink. There was too much noise and I had to wake up at 2 am for 4 am start,” he said.

Though the weather was conducive for racing, the lack of sleep did bother. “I was able to do the first half of the race well but in the second half, I could feel the tiredness,” he said.

A slightly delayed start, at around 5 am, would have been more beneficial, Gopi pointed out. “When you wake up at 2 am for a 4 am start it is also difficult to eat or drink anything before the race,” he said.

Gopi, 37, will resume training in a few weeks and his focus is most likely on Asian Games.

At the start line of the elite marathon race at NDM 2026, defending champion Man Singh had the backing of very good training, which he executed with his compatriot Gopi.

“Our focus was to qualify for the Asian Games and therefore our training plan was designed keeping that in mind,” he said.

Man Singh (in black vest) with Gopi

The army man, otherwise based in Pune, moved to Ooty mainly to get the benefit of training in the hills.

The night before the race, Man Singh also had not slept at all. Man Singh and Gopi were sharing a room.

“The race timing was too early. In the early part of the race, some of the stretches along the route were quite dark. I could feel cramps coming on but they were manageable,” Man Singh said.

Although he was disappointed with his third finish, Man Singh did improve his personal record. He finished the marathon at NDM in 2:13:15, a 10-second improvement from his previous personal best which he achieved in 2025.

In January 2026, Nirmaben Thakor had finished second among Indian elite women at Tata Mumbai Marathon. She was the defending champion at TMM 2026 but lost out to Sanjivani Jadhav by a few seconds.

Nirmaben is unperturbed by these rankings. “It is extremely competitive out there. These things are bound to happen,” she told this blog.

At New Delhi Marathon 2026, she not only won the women’s race but also secured a personal record with a huge margin.

The elite runner from Patan, Gujarat, has been residing and training in Nashik under Coach Vijendra Singh. Her training in the run up to these two major marathons was quite good and that helped her performance at NDM 2026.

Nirmaben finished the marathon in a timing of 2:41:15, a stupendous improvement over her previous personal best of 2:47:11, which she secured in the 2024 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon.

Nirmaben survives on her earnings from podium finishes in races.

For the last few years Kalidas Hirave has been a podium finisher in leading marathon races.

He started as a middle-distance runner moving to longer distances over the years. In February 2022, Kalidas ran his debut marathon at the New Delhi Marathon, finishing with a personal best timing of 2:18:12.

At the 2023 edition of Tata Mumbai Marathon, Kalidas finished in third position among the elite.

Kalidas, originally from Satara in Maharashtra, now resides and trains in Nashik. He works with Life Insurance of India. “My training for NDM 2026 was quite good. Kartik Karkera, the winner of the race, trained with me,” he said.

He completed the run in 2:20:09, securing a sixth position among marathon elites. “The first half of my race went very well. But in the second half I started to feel tightness in my legs due to cramps and had to slow down a tad,” he said.

He is also due to participate in TCS world 10k at Bengaluru in April.

Ashok Bind also mostly survives on his prize money from podium finishes. The runner, originally from Uttar Pradesh, has been securing podium finishes in many of the races recently.

At TMM 2026, he had finished second overall in the open category of the marathon race and first in his age group of 18 to 24 years.

Ashok has been running for about 10 years, initially doing steeple chase and middle-distance races.

“My training for NDM was quite good,” he said. He had previously told this blog that he trains under O.P. Jaisha, a veteran marathon runner, who continues to hold the women national record in marathon.

“My run at NDM went off quite well. The weather and the route, both were good,” he said. Ashok finished the race in 2:28:25, securing a second position in the open category of the marathon. It was also a new personal best timing compared with his previous best of 2:30:11 at the 2024 edition of the New Delhi Marathon in 2024, when he secured an overall third position and first in his age category of 35 to 45 years.

He is likely to run TCS World 10k, due on April 26, 2026.

In November 2025, running the 100 km race at the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships held at Thailand, Jayadrath Singh finished fifth among men with a timing of 7:51.

“The race was quite tough because it started at 10 pm. I am not used to running in the nights,” said Jayadrath, a long-distance runner from the Indian Air Force, currently posted in Chennai. The warm weather in Chennai did help with the humidity in Thailand but he did suffer from nausea during the 100 km race. Ultrarunners are wont to suffer from gut issues during the race if hydration and nutrition are not ideal.

Jayadrath, originally from Rishikesh in Uttarakhand started running in 2019.

“This is the seventh year, I am running NDM. This time around I had a very good race,” he said. Jayadrath finished the run in 2:42:04, securing a sixth position in the open category of marathon and second position in his age category of 30 to 40 years. Also, this finish was his new personal record, an improvement from his previous best of 2:43:41, which he had set at the 2025 edition of NDM.

Jayadrath will be participating in Boston Marathon 2026, slated to be held on April 20, 2026. “I have taken a break from work mainly to train in the hilly terrain of Rishikesh for Boston Marathon,” he told this blog.

Three weeks ahead of Tata Mumbai Marathon 2026, ultrarunner Binay Sah ended up with an ankle injury. He went off training to help the recovery but the time available until TMM race day was not sufficient for a complete recovery. He finished the race in 3:01 hours.

But he was able to do well at the IDFC First Bank Indian Navy Half Marathon held in New Delhi on February 1, 2026. He finished the race in 1:20:20

“My ankle injury took a month’s time to recover,” he said.

Running the New Delhi Marathon 2026, Binay was able to achieve a new personal record. He finished in 2:43:05, securing a lead position in his age category of 40 to 50 years and ninth overall in the open category of the marathon race.

Having suffered a couple of setbacks, Binay was all set for the New Delhi Marathon. “This time, I also trained for the U turns on the NDM route,” he said.

The NDM route, though mostly flat, has many turns including several U turns.

Binay has represented India is many ultrarunning events held within the country as well as overseas. In November 2025, he was due to run the IAU 100 km Asia & Oceania Championships held in Thailand. But in early November, he contracted dengue and had to pull out of the race.

In 2022, Binay had a health scare. He was due to leave for Spartathlon, 246 km ultramarathon held in Greece in September every year. “I had to go to Fortis Hospital in Delhi for a fitness certificate before I left for the race. The cardiologist, a friend, casually did a 2D Echo and the whole story changed. He found a hole in my heart,” he said. Binay was asked to pull out of Spartathalon that year and was advised to go in for ASD Closure, a medical procedure to rectify the problem.

Next on cards for Binay is the 50 km at the Masters Meet in Delhi on March 15. This event runs concurrently with the IAU 50 km World Championships, initially slated to be held in December 2025 but postponed to March 2026 mainly due to the bad air quality in the capital city.

Elite runner Ashwini Jadhav comes from the same place the veteran marathon runner Jyoti Gawate hails from – Parbhani in Maharashtra.

Jyoti has been a podium finisher in many of the leading marathons including Mumbai Marathon and the New Delhi Marathon over the last few years. Jyoti holds the national record for 100 km with a timing of 8:20:07 hours set at the IAU 100 km World Championships at Berlin in 2022.

Ashwini, 21, trains with Jyoti under their coach Ravi Raskatla. She has been running for the last eight years and took to marathon running in the last three years.

“My training for NDM 2026 was not very good. I was not well. I have been running too many races and there has been no time for recovery,” she said. Ashwini, Jyoti and many other runners around the country mainly survive on the prize money from their podium wins. At TMM 2026, Jyoti had finished sixth among Indian elite women.

“At NDM this time my run was okay, far from my best. The route is good and the weather was excellent,” she said. Ashwini finished third among elite women with a timing of 2:56:59. At the 2025 edition of the New Delhi Marathon, Ashwini had secured a personal best with her finish of 2:50:48 and a third position among elite women.

Having finished her BSc degree, she has now secured admission for BPEd.

With age on her side, Ashwini believes she can improve her marathon timings further.

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

(All photos provided by athletes)

(With inputs from MySamay.in)