Akashay Kumar and Ankita Ben Gavit won the Elite 21km men’s and women’s races respectively at the 3rd Sohra International Half Marathon 2024 in picturesque Sohra today.
Kresstarjune Pathaw and Phyrnai Kyndait won the Meghalaya category for men and women in the half marathon respectively.
Akashay crossed the finish line in a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes, bettering the fastest time from 2023 of 1 hour, 4 minutes and 35 seconds set by Meghalaya’s own Wolbetstar Ramsiej.
Lovepreet Singh was 19 seconds behind Akashay, while Kailash Chaudhary came third (1:05:00). Kresstarjune’s time of 1:05:21 would have been good enough to put him fourth in the Elite category.
Ankita, meanwhile, won with a time of 1:14:04. This is significantly slower than last year’s winner, Renu Singh, who finished in 1:10:30.
Ankita was eight seconds ahead of second-placed Tamsi Singh, while Nisha was a distant third (1:21:59).
Phyrnai’s time of 1:29:37 would have been good enough to put her fifth in the Elite category.
The 10km races were also keenly contested, with Md Aleem winning the men’s 18-40 age category with a time of 29 minutes and 25 seconds. He had the same gross time (calculated from the flag off to the moment the runner crosses the finish line) as Pankaj Kumar but Aleem’s net time (his personal chip time) was three seconds better than Kumar’s (29:19 to 29:22). Meghalaya’s Skhemlang Suba was third in 29:52.
In the women’s 18-40 10km race, Ibandarisha K Wanniang was first in 41:34, 17 seconds ahead of Risalang Marwein (41:51). Meena Kumari Subba was third in 42:17.
There were also 40-50, 50-59 and 60+ age categories this year.
The race began at Laitsohpliah and ended at Mawsmai (Nohsngithiang Falls viewpoint).
Prize money for the 21km elite race was increased to Rs 1.50 lakh for the winner this year and the total prize money was Rs 40.60 lakh.
The event was organised by the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs, Meghalaya State Olympic Association and Meghalaya Athletics Association.
More than 7,000 runners took part, with the vast majority of these participating in the 5km ‘Fun Run’, including 2,000 runners from the Sohra area itself. The state government allocated Rs 2.3 crore for the race this year.
