Ram Singh wins 'Midnight Marathon'

Bangalore, May 20 (UNI) A regular on the country's marathon circuit, Ram Singh Yadav upstaged his foreign opponents to win the first-ever 'Midnight Marathon', organised in the city last night.

Yadav returned with a timing of 2 min 30.28 seconds, keeping at bay Mathew Kangogo of Kenya who clocked 2:33.39 and Tendse Girma of Ethiopia, who finished third with a timing of 2:51.30.

The Indian runner, who had put up an impressive performance in the star-studded Mumbai Marathon earlier this year finishing a creditable 16th, had much to spare in the race that flagged off at the IT City in Whitefield on the outskirts of the city at the stroke of midnight. Fifteen runners took part in the marathon. A total cash prize of Rs three lakh was offered at the event.

In the Full Marathon for Women, Rina Das won the competition stopping the clock at 3:32.44 sec. Satyabhama and Mageshwari took the silver and bronze repectively.

The concept of midnight marathon was created by the joint efforts of Crossover Sports and Rotary Bangalore IT Corridor. However, it was not given an official status by the Amateur Athletic Federation of India.

UNI