The big run is here

The big run is here

The Hindu

BANGALORE: It's finally here. As you are reading this piece, Bangaloreans will be undergoing one of the toughest endurance tests ever — the marathon. The Lipton Bangalore International Marathon gets under way at 6 a.m. on Sunday.

It has been divided into three separate races — the full marathon, half marathon and the celebrity run.

Distance

The full marathon will be run over a distance of 42.195 km and will kick off at 6 a.m. The half marathon run over a distance of 21.097 km will start at 6.30 p.m. The full marathon will see the participation of Ethiopian athletes Tegayae Desalgne, Tesfaye Orgawa, Abebe Seume, Korre Alemu, Adenech Beyene Jemilu and Marshet Jimma. Veteran city marathoner Arockiaswamy Jayaraj will also be participating.

Both the full and half marathons, and the celebrity run will see a good number of enthusiastic Bangaloreans participating. The number was 10,000 before close of registrations on Saturday evening. The half marathon follows a different route from the first.

Presence of celebrities

The 7-km celebrity run beginning at 9 a.m. is a chance for the city's who's who to get a feel of what a marathon is all about.

The list is long and includes the likes of Prakash Padukone, Anita Nair, Ashish Ballal, Harish Bijoor, Bob Hoekstra, Priscilla Corner, Veena Sajnani, Waseem Khan, Mahesh Dattani, Raghu Mukherji, Rachel Bayros, Magician Ramesh, Jackie Shetty, Ramesh and Vasundhara Das.