Three tests, bio-secure zone for elite athletes as Capital gears up for Half Marathon

Unprecedented security protocols shall be in place for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon (ADHM) on November 29, the organisers mentioned. This is the primary worldwide sporting occasion in New Delhi after the exhausting lockdown in March to fight Covid-19 and it’ll happen at a time when town is seeing a surge in instances. It can be the primary main marathon organised in India in a 12 months that has seen an enormous pile up of cancelled races as a result of lockdown and the necessity to preserve bodily distancing.

Only elite runners will run the unique course ranging from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Amateur runners can select their very own areas and their timing and distance shall be tracked by way of ADHM app. Defending champions from Ethiopia, Andamlak Belihu (males) and Tsehay Gemechu (girls), shall be amongst 35 worldwide runners.

The worldwide athletes must take a RT-PCR test inside 72 hours of their departure and shall be examined once more on arrival. There shall be one other test on Friday, Nov. 27. Indian and worldwide elite runners will stay in a biosecure zone. A medical camp with a two-bed ICU arrange shall be deployed. Only authorised folks shall be allowed to enter the bio-secure zones inside JLN Stadium. The route shall be a 21Km loop by way of town. Elite males race begins at 07:10 am and elite girls at 08:40 am.

“These are unprecedented times and unprecedented protocols in terms of safety and security will be in place. We will have a strong, competitive and world class field,” mentioned Anil Singh, managing director of Procam International, the organiser of the occasion, on the launch of the occasion right here on Saturday.

Belihu and Gemechu, who set a course file (1:06:00) final 12 months, shall be on the lookout for their third consecutive titles. The girls’s subject shall be extremely aggressive with Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh, who set a world file in half-marathon (1:04:31) in February, and Kenyan Brigid Kosgei, the marathon world file holder and London Marathon winner, being within the fray. In the lads’s competitors, 2020 World Athletics Half Marathon Championships bronze medallist Amdework Walelegn and 2014 ADHM champion Guye Adola, the course file holder of ADHM (59:06 seconds), will compete.

Avinash Sable would be the greatest draw amongst Indians. Sable has certified for the Tokyo Olympics in steeplechase. Defending Indian males’s champion Srinu Bugatha, Abhishek Paul and Pradeep Singh too will run. The girls’s subject may have 2018 winner Parul Chaudhary, who set an Indian course file at Tata Mumbai Marathon (1:15:37s) earlier this 12 months, Monika Athare and Chinta Yadav amongst others.

Adille Sumariwalla, the Athletics Federation of India president, known as it a very good begin for the game in India. “We have lost out a whole season because of the pandemic restrictions. It is important for elite athletes to participate in competitions. I am glad that this will be a starting point,” he mentioned.