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With Kenenisa Bekele in fray, Lakshmanan hopes to better his record mark in Kolkata 25k
India’s Govindan Lakshmanan hopes that the presence of Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele will spur him to better the course record of 1:17:16 set last year at the Kolkata 25k run
Defending champions Govindan Lakshmanan and Monika Athare go into Sunday’s Tata Steel Kolkata 25k run with different priorities.
For Athare this will be another step towards a career in marathon and also a chance to see how her body takes to competing in two road races in a fortnight.
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Lakshmanan hopes that the presence of Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele will spur him to better the course record of 1:17:16 set last year.
With the $100,000 prizemoney event going international this year, Bekele fronts a list of elite road runners that has Ugandan Robert Chemonges, who won the Trieste marathon in 2016 and Dusseldorf this year, the 2015 Cape Town marathon winner Michael Mazibuko of South Africa, Eritrean Tsegay Tuemay, winner of the 2017 San Diego half-marathon, and Kenyan Clement Lagat, who finished first in the 2017 San Blas half-marathon.
Among the top women here are Kenyans Helah Kiprop, who won the marathon silver in the 2015 world championship and was seventh this year, and Valentine Kipketer, winner in Amsterdam in 2013 and fifth in Chicago this year. There will be 23 elite Indian runners this time.
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“Running with Bekele is a big thing for me. You improve when you go up against a good field and so, I am hopeful of improving my timing tomorrow,” said Lakshmaman, 27, who is a double Asian champion having won the 5000 and 10000m gold medals at the Asian Athletic Championship in Bhubaneswar last July.
That gave him the right to go up against Mo Farah in the world championships last August and now this for an athlete who, not too long ago was running barefoot in Tamil Nadu.
Lakshmanan though has no plans for shifting to marathon. “That can happen after 2020 Games,” he said. Beyond Kolkata, therefore, the focus is on qualifying for the 5000 and 10000m races in the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, next April and the Asian Games in Jakarta in August.
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Athare, 25, said she isn’t at her fittest but more than defending her title, won in 1:34:15, she is using this as a stepping stone to qualifying for the Commonwealth Games’ marathon.
“My body took the world championship marathon really badly and even after three months, I don’t think I have recovered. I felt I couldn’t compete anymore; things were so bad. But then I realised that I must tune my body into competing again. So, I took part in a half-marathon in Bhopal two Sundays ago and came second. To have a career in marathon, I will need to do this regularly and so even though I am not fit, I am here,” said Athare who also won the half-marathon in Mumbai this year.
After this, Athare said she would aim for the Delhi marathon in February.
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KNOW THE TOP INDIAN RUNNERS
Men
G Lakshmanan: The 27-year-old is the 5000 and 10000m Asian champion and will be defending his title in Kolkata. Coached by Surendra Singh, he won the 2016 Delhi half-marathon in 1:03:53.
Kalidas Hirave: He is 26 and winner of the BSF half-marathon this year. He is coached by JS Bhatia.
Avinash Sable: The 22-year-old is a steeplechaser who is running this distance for the first time, having finished second at the Delhi half-marathon this year. He wants to transition to a marathon runner.
WOMEN
Monika Athare: The defending champion was also the best Indian with 2:39:08 in the 2017 Delhi marathon. She has won Mumbai half-marathon in 2017 and the Delhi, Nagpur and Bhopal half-marathons in 2016.
Swata Gadhave: She is 27. She finished fourth in the 2017 Delhi half-marathon and won the 10k run in Bengaluru in 2016.
L Suriya: She is Lakshmanan’s sister and is here on her brother’s advice. This is the 27-year-old’s first 25k race but she won the Delhi half-marathon this year.
