Sachin, Bijoya triumph at Niveus Mangalore full marathon

Mangaluru: Sachin from Udupi claimed victory in the full marathon open men's category with a time of 2:43:55, while Bijoya Barman from Assam secured first place in the open women's category, finishing in 3:38:08. Niveus Mangalore Marathon 2024 (NMM) saw over 5,000 participants fill the streets of Mangaluru in a wave of blue on Sunday morning. Organisers stated that provisional results will be posted on the event website after verification.
The third edition of NMM showcased international participation from countries like Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, Spain, and Japan.The event hosted over 110 runners in the Full Marathon (42.2K), 150 in the 20-miler, 600 in the Half Marathon (21.1K), 1,200 in the 10K, 2,000 in the 5K, and 1,000 in the 2K Gammath Run.
Event ambassador Satish Gujaran, along with run ambassadors Deepthi, Karthik, and Paul, renowned figures in the running community, were honoured for their contributions.
Runners gathered at the start point, Mangala Stadium. The day began with a warm-up routine led by professionals from NMM2024's fitness partner, Kasharp Fitness.
The event kicked off at 4.15am with the flag-off for the Full Marathon by Shashir Shetty, chief growth officer at Niveus Solutions, and Najma Farooqi, ACP Traffic subdivision, Mangaluru. This was followed by the 20-miler, flagged off by Satish Gujaran, event ambassador, and Kevin Pereira, senior vice-president at Procam International. The Half Marathon was flagged off by Suyog Shetty, CEO of Niveus Solutions, alongside Shivanand and Shivanand Rao, partners at Grahini Masalas.
The 10K race, with over 1,200 participants, was flagged off by Manoj Kumar, Mangaluru Mayor, along with Ananthesh Prabhu, MD, Aruna Masalas; Geetha Kulkarni, ACP, CCRB; Kunal Dixit, CTO, Fed Bank Financials; Neil Mani Sahu, Head of IT at JWS Paints; and Prabhu S, AVP IT at Shriram Group.
The 5K run, which also featured a student-run powered by CFAL, was flagged off by Krishna Hegde, DGM at MRPL, Anand Prabhu, MD, Kasharp Fitness, Umashanker Prasad, AGM at Canara Bank, Nikhil Bhushan, CTO of Starbucks, Kenuit Coelho, director IT at Shaadi.com, and Ashish Shah, partner manager at Google.
City Police Commissioner Anupam Agarwal, who was present at the felicitation ceremony, said, "Mangaluru needs more early morning celebrations like these, which bring the community together with energy and enthusiasm, rather than late-night parties."