Chaotic start marks the race in 16 different categories of Go Vadodara Go

The Vadodara Marathon witnessed a huge turnout with over 30,000 participants running in 16 different categories, on Sunday morning.

The first prize in the male open category (21 kilometres) was bagged by a 30-year-old Armyman from Hyderabad, Vipul Sahariya. He took one hour and six minutes to complete the race. Govardhan Mali (24) from Rajasthan, an Indian Air Force personnel based in Gandhinagar finished second, while Narendra Sahi (28), a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel deployed in Porbandar, came third.

In the women’s category, Kamlesh Baghel (24) from Gandhinagar won the race, followed by two physical education students from Junagadh — Reena Thumar (21), who in a state-level basketball player, and Dimple Gevaria (25), a national-level cross-country athlete.

Sahi said: “Earlier, I had participated in marathons in Delhi, Mehsana and elsewhere. There was no segregation of lanes, so there was a lot of crowd on the track with children coming in our way. Overall, it was a good experience.”

Among the participants was the duo of Dhanish Ramsari (28), a farmer, and Gajendra Yadav, a policeman, from Chhattisgarh, who ran barefoot all through the route.

“We have participated in several full and half marathons, and have won many of them. We come from a poor background and cannot afford good sports shoes. But it doesn’t matter because we have been practising in the hilly terrain barefoot and we are used to it now,” said Ramsari, who finished eighth.