Gulveer, Abhishek Pal, Lili Das to compete in Delhi Half Marathon

young new delhi, Some of India's leading midsection and long-distance runners, including multiple subject register holder Gulveer Singh, will compete in the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon next month.

Gulveer, the Asian Championships double gold medallist in men's 5,000m and 10,000m and national record holder in both the events, has confirmed his participation in the October 12 event and will vie for honours in the 'elite Indian category' alongside in-form Abhishek Pal, the double gold medallist at the National Inter-state Senior Athletics Championships this year, among others.

The women's section will see reigning Delhi Half Marathon champion Lili Das compete for the honours along side Sanjivani Jadhav the TCS World 10K Bengaluru gold medallist and silver medal winner in 5000m at the recently concluded Senior National Championship in Bengaluru and 2023 DHM winner Kavita Yadav, among others in the 'elite Indian category'.

More than 40,000 runners from across the world, including defending champion in the 'elite international category' Alemaddis Eyayu and compatriot Jemal Mekonen will headline the 20th edition of the event, a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race.

Kenya's Paris Marathon champion Benard Biwott, Olympic 5000m silver medallist Ronald Kwemoi, who will be making his half-marathon debut, and Isaac Kipkemboi are also in the men's line-up.

Abhishek, who won the DHM in 2018 and 2023, said his aim is to clock a sub-60 minute time in the upcoming event.

"I will be competing for the sixth time in the event and hope to renew my rivalry with Gulveer," said Abhijeet, who had won silver behind Gulveer in the 2024 Asian Cross Country Championships in Hong Kong.

"The competition will be good. The climate will be better than what it is now, training is going on well and both Gulveer and I are not carrying any injury," said the 2023 Asian Championships bronze medallist in 10,000m, who trains in Bhopal.

"I will have to train a bit harder for a sub-60 minute timing. We usually train for track events and have to make some changes for marathon, a bit of long endurance. I will go for the Open Nationals in Ranchi and then start my training in right earnest for DHM," he said.

"Sub 60-minute is tough but if I, or anyone else, achieves it, it will be quite an achievement and it will be a global-level timing by an Indian," he said.

No Indian has achieved a sub-60-minute half marathon timing. The current national record is 1:00:30, set by Avinash Sable in the 2020 DHM, which is just over the hour mark.

Lili Das, the defending DHM champion, said she expected the competition to be much tougher this year as reputed runners like Sanjivani and Olympian Ankita Dhyani will be in contention.

"I will try my best to give a much better timing. It is immaterial if I win the title or not, my focus will be on improving the timing. I am currently training in Bengaluru. I am trying to juggle between track sessions and marathon sessions. Next year we have the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, so I also have to keep that in mind," said the middle-distance runner from Bengal who competes in 800m and 1,500m.

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