The Hindu : Sport : Ramu overcomes Ethiopian challenge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 16, 2005

Sport

Sport

Ramu overcomes Ethiopian challenge

Avinash Nair

Photo: G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

REMARKABLE FEAT: K.C. Ramu upset the calculations of the Ethiopian runners in the Lipton Bangalore International marathon.

BANGALORE: It was Army Sports Institute's Kennedy Chinna Ramu all the way despite the initial challenge from the fancied Ethiopian trio of Abebe Seyoum, Tegayae Desalgne and Tesfaye Bayu Orgawa who faltered and fell behind at the halfway mark in the inaugural Lipton Bangalore International Marathon held here on Sunday morning.

The winners of the full marathon walked away with a cash prize of Rs. 1,32,000 and there was a cash award right up to 10th place.

Ramu, the 28-year-old Army runner who took to the sport to join the forces, could not achieve his dream of clocking a personal best, but considering the competition he faced from the international runners, his effort was indeed creditable.

Ramu, a Havaldar in Corps of Signal and based in Bannerghatta in Bangalore, was overwhelmed by his achievement. "I found it too tough initially... but once the race got underway, the going was smooth and the foreign challenge faded away, I knew the honours was up for grabs. I stuck to my coach's advice: `Just don't give too much of leeway to the foreign runners and stay close,'" an elated Ramu said, adding, "the conditions were too hot and the route quite challenging."

The Ethiopians, from whom much was expected, played the same tune. "We were told that Bangalore was a cool place but realised otherwise during the run. It was terribly hot and humid," said Abebe, who settled for silver.

"We make our living out of running... and every race is important. We hoped to do well here too but things did not work out well," said Tesafaye Bayu, who finished eighth in the Lahore marathon.

Marashet Jimma made the women's full marathon a start-to-finish effort in a time of 2:45.34 seconds to make it an Ethiopian sweep. Adanech Beyene and Korre Alemu finished behind the winner in that order, with Indian veteran Leelamma Alphonso taking the fourth spot.

Shanawas, Bhagawati win

Shanawas of MEG and Bhagawati of CISF (Delhi) hogged the limelight in the men's and women's half marathon and walked away with Rs. 50,000.

The full marathon had about 200 competitors and the half marathon 400. However, the emphasis was on the 15,000 who stepped forward to take the celebrity run.

Karnataka Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, flagged off the celebrity event, which saw a host of theatre personalities, sportspersons and corporate bigwigs along with NGOs and paraplegic athletes.

The results:

Men: Full Marathon: 1. K.C. Ramu (Army Sports Institute) 2:23.46s, 2. Abebe Seyoum (Ethiopia) 2:28.37s, 3. TegayaeDesalbne (Ethiopia) 2:33.10s, 4. Tesfaye Bayu Orgawa (Ethiopia) 2:35.34s, 5. Santosh (MEG) 2:36.58s, 6. Channan Singh (Punjab RC) 2:37.18, 7. Harun Ali (U.P.) 2:40.32s, 8. Raju Kumar (Pun) 2:41.44s, 9. Man Singh (Pun) 2:43.39s and 10. Gurmeet Singh (Pun) 2:44.14s.

Half marathon (21.097-kms): 1. Shanawas (MEG) 1:07.45s, 2. Ram Singh Yadav (Hyd) 1:08.59s, 3. S.B. Singh (ASC) 1:10.05s, 4. Ranjit Klumar (MEG) 1:10.20s, 5. Girish Tiwari (Air Force) 1:10.50s and 6. K.K. Laiju (Maha. Army) 1:12.02s.

Women: Full Marathon: 1. Marashet Jimma (Ethiopia) 2:45.34s, 2. Adanech Beyene (Ethiopia) 2:47.04s, 3. Korre Alemu (Ethiopia) 3:03.47s, 4. Leelamma Alphonso (Rlys) 3:16.47s, 5. Indresh Dhiraj (U.P.) 3:27.12s, 6. Waheeda Banu (Raj) 3:53.32s and 7. Kiran Dhiraj (Ghaziabad) 3:54.26s.

Half marathon: 1. Bhagawati (CISF) 1:26.24s, 2. Chandra Prabha Verma (U.P.) 1:31.17s, 3. Neha Agarwal (U.P.) 1:32.57s, 4. C.S. Sunitha (Kar) 1:35.44s, 5. Farah Mehmood (Kar) 1:40.35s and 6. Muguteswari (TN) 1:42.50s.

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