Pune(IANS) : As many as 30,000 athletes will be taking to the city roads Sunday morning for the 22nd Vodafone Pune International Marathon.
Scheduled just a day after the Worlds AIDS day, the Pune Marathon will have as its theme, “Race against AIDS”.
Speaking o the occasion, Suresh Kalmadi, president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said: “The marathon will be important for the Indian athletes, as those clocking under two hours and 18 minutes will qualify for the Beijing Olympics marathon.”
The marathon will be flagged off at 7:30 am while former Indian cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar. Bollywood star Salman Khan will flag off the AIDS charity run.
Many international athletes are expected to participate in the Marathon. Among the most popular and accomplished athletes are Kenyans Ambros Makau, Douglas Guandaru and Josephat Ndeti, Oswald Reverian from Tanzania and Abebe Mekonnen Bersoma from Ethopia.
The main stars of the Indian challenge will be K.C. Ramu with a best timing of 2:19, L. Binning with 2:17, Vikram Singh with 2:20 and Jaybhay Dattatry with 2:21.
Former Marathon runner from UK, Ian Ladbrook told IANS: “Indian Marathon (timings) hasn’t improved much but what has changed is the quality of events being organized in India like the Mumbai marathon, Bangalore and Hyderabad Marathons have become more professional over the years.”
Kalmadi however seemed very upbeat about the Indian team and said: “Wait till you see the timings this time.”
Kalmadi also added that the marathon would have a bunch of athletes under the age of 17. The best of these will be picked up and trained for the Commonwealth Youth Games scheduled in next year in Pune.
While most athletes felt good about the Pune weather, it was the water, which was their major concern. The athletes have requested the organizing committee to keep enough water in order to ward of dehydration.
The marathon has attracted lot of participation from IT companies in and around Pune.
Infosys will be leading the band with 1000 runners. The proceeds from the sale of entry forms from the AIDS charity run will be donated to Project Concern International, a Non Governmental organization working towards HIV/AIDS prevention.