TATA Mumbai Marathon: Anish Thapa thunders to victory; suggests earlier start to beat the heat

India’s elite men’s runners (left to right) Anish Thapa (winner), third-placed Gopi Thonakal, Kalidas (4th place) and Man Singh (2nd place) congratulate each other after the race. Pics/Satej Shinde

Anish Thapa excelled in testing conditions at the 20th edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) on Sunday, claiming victory in the Indian elite men's category with a time of 2:17:23.

Man Singh (2:17:37) and Gopi Thonakal (2:19:59) finished second and third respectively.

Thapa's race was a fine blend of power and endurance as he put ample daylight between himself and the rest of the pack as the race progressed.

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India's Anish Thapa crosses the finish line

The standout moment came around the 1 hour, 52-minute mark when Thapa left a tiring Man Singh in his wake on an uphill section to gain a firm grasp on the proceedings.

Thapa fell 15 seconds short of achieving his personal best of 2:17:09, which he had set in Dhaka last year.

"This is the first time I have won a marathon at this level [IAAF Gold Label Road Race], so I'm very happy. I wanted to break the course record [2:15:48 set by NS Rawat in 2016] , but things didn't pan out the way I wanted it to as the weather conditions were very hot," Thapa said at the post-race press conference.

Gopi and Singh agreed with Thapa's assessment of the weather and hoped that the future editions of the elite category races in the Mumbai Marathon could start earlier in the morning. "Due to the heat, your muscles start to cramp. It'll be beneficial to the athletes to start the race earlier," said Singh, who won a gold medal at the Asian Championships last year.

Gopi, who won the Mumbai Marathon in 2023, said, "The first 20-25 kms of the race were fine, but then I started cramping up after that at, around the 32km mark and eventually fell behind. I think a 5:30am start [the elite men's marathon began at 7:20am] would be good."