The first Vasai Marathon to spread the message “Save the Girl Child and Maintain Nature’s Balance” flagged off at 7 am on Sunday September 18.
Former Asian track queen P T Usha was the brand ambassador of the event. The marathon offers prize money in excess of Rs 15 lac and is spread across the 10 race categories to attract the best athletes from the state. The event, flagged off from Viva College in Virar, passed through Nallasopara and Vasai before finishing in Virar.

This was the first marathon held in the region. Deepchand Saharan, an Army subhedar who hails from Churu in Rajasthan and is training at the Army Institute in Pune, won the 42-km full marathon with a timing of 2 hours, 28 minutes and 3 seconds. Bhaskar Madhukar Kamble of Washim (Raigad district) came second crossing the finishing line nine minutes after Saharan.

Western Railway’s Kiran Prayag Tiwari emerged triumphant in the open half-marathon (21km) for women. She reached the finishing line in 1 hour, 18 minutes and 21 seconds, a minute before second-placed Lalita Babbar.

Here are some clicks from the First Vasai-Virar Marathon.

Following are the Final Results:

Men (Open) (42 k.m.): Deepchand Saharan Mohansingh (Pune) 2.28.03; Bhaskar Madhukar Kamble (Vashim) 2.37.26; Nilesh Waman Bodhe (Chandrapur) 2.39.16; Bhima Sawlaram Shinde (Nashik Police) 2.40.50; Kalidas Dahikale (Pune) 2.41.10.

Vasai Taluka: Don Disilva (Vasai) 2.56.10; Sandeep Pandirkar (Virar) 3.20.06; Sandip Tulaskar (Vasai) 3.34.00.

Boys u-20 (11 k.m.): Bharat Krishna Gharat (Vasai) 40.01.08; Shubham Sudhakar Taral (Virar) 40.10.03; Hitesh J Patel (Virar) 40.10.09.

Boys u-17 (5 k.m.): Salim Salman Khan 25.17.08; Gurunath Dinesh Mhatre 27.10.08; Virendra Yadav 27.47.07.

Boys u-14 (3 k.m.): Shohaib Mustakh Mansuri 11.08.01; Shubham Rakesh Yadav 12.08.00; ; Radhe Sagar Gupta 13.20.00.

Women (21k.m.): Kiran Prayag Tiwari (Western Railway) 1.18.21; Lalita Babar 1.19.23; Priya Prakash Thoke (Mumbai) 1.20.25; Sangeeta Yadav (Mumbai) 1.22.53; Reshma Chandrakant Dalvi (Pune); Swati Deviprasad Sarode (Amravati) 1.25.49.

Vasai Taluka: Darshana Sitaram Khandekar (Virar) 1.37.05; Sangeeta B Mohankar (Chandip) 1.50.07; Priya Pradip Surve (Nalasopara) 2.17.15.

Girls u-17 (5 k.m.): Divya Suresh Padvi 20.05.06; Kavita Ankush Khandekar 27.23.09; Megha Prabhakar Patil 28.10.01.

Girls u-14: (3 k.m.): Itkar Chaya Shridhar 13.10.08; Gaikar Shilpa Jagdish 13.19.01; Amisha V. Jadhav 13.23.04.