Valencia Marathon: Veteran army officer raises funds to fuel distance runner AB Belliappa's passion to break barriers

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Bengaluru, Nov 29: When Indian Army's 32-year-old international distance runner AB Belliappa steps on the starting line to compete at the 2024 Valencia marathon scheduled for December 1, he will have support from a large number of people back home, particularly army veterans.

Major General Arjun Muthanna (retd) has raised funds to support Belliappa so that he could achieve his goal of breaking the long-standing national record of 2:12:00 clocked by late Shivnath Singh in 1978 in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Belliappa, who also hails from Coorg has a personal best of two hours 14 minutes 26 seconds clocked earlier this year at Vienna marathon in Austria.

"I'm lucky to have support from well-wishers and former army officers. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible for me to compete in elite marathon races in Europe," the army runner revealed.

This will be the third time in two years that well-wishers from Coorg who are members of Kodagu Educational and Social Service Trust, have come forward to financially support the army distance runner.

"Belliyappa's coach approached us for funds so that his athlete could gain valuable experience by competing in elite marathon races in Europe. We cross-checked details and decided to financially support him," Major General Arjun Muthanna (retd), one of the members of the trust told Mykhel over the phone from Bengaluru.

"People associated with the trust came forward to support him in the past. We again decided to raise some amount of money so that he could compete in this weekend's Valencia marathon and achieve his goal of improving his personal best."

A good performance in Valencia will also brighten Belliappa's prospects of qualifying for the marathon event at the 2025 Tokyo World Athletics Championships. "An average of two good performances over marathon races will enhance his chances to improve his world ranking and win a ticket to the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo," KC Ramu, army's athletics coach overseeing Belliappa's training said.

Belliappa - who trains with a group of distance runners in Ooty in Tamil Nadu - said he could have done better in Vienna in April this year, but he lost his luggage, including his running kit and shoes in transit.

"I had to purchase a new kit and pair of shoes to race in Austria," he added. "After crossing the finish line I wasn't tired which gave me confidence that I could have done better."

Way back in 2022, Belliappa misjudged his pace at the Valencia marathon and ran a slower race than his coach predicted. "I was inexperienced to run a well-judged pace," Belliappa said of clocking 2:16:51.

The army runner also couldn't live up to expectations at the 2022 Asian Games held in China in 2023. He clocked a slow time of 2:20:52 and wasn't among the medalists.

But he bounced back this year to post a personal best in Austria. The former track runner has to date raced seven times over marathon distances (42km and 195m). He is more confident to cope with local weather conditions and plans to run conservative pace in the early stages of the race this weekend in Spain.

"The training has gone well. There is no issue of niggle. All that I need is a bit of luck on race day to achieve my goal of breaking the 2:12:00 barrier, which is a national record," he told Mykhel from Bengaluru.