COCHIN HALF MARATHON TODAY

There’s Kenyan Emmanuel Mutai, the 2011 London Marathon winner who is very close to the men’s world record this year, his compatriot Helah Kiprop who was a silver medallist in last year’s women’s Berlin half marathon, Estonian sisters Leila and Liina Luik and Asian Games gold medalists Sudha Singh and Preeja Sreedharan. And there’s a very old man from UP, Dharampal Singh, who claims to be 116 years old — which, if true, could make him the world’s oldest marathon runner.

With such an interesting field and a huge Rs. 60 lakh prize fund, the Muthoot Finance Cochin International Half Marathon will be flagged off from the Maharaja’s Stadium here at 6.15 on Sunday morning. Nearly 2500 runners will be doing the main 21km event while the rest will get a feel of things in the 7km fun run.

The overall winners will take home a top prize of $5000 in the men’s and women’s sections while the Indian men’s and women’s winners will take home Rs. 2 lakh each