The Indian army runners grabbed the top-three positions in both men’s 21km and 10km races in the third edition of the Tuffman Kasauli Hills Half Marathon powered by Glenview Villas Kasauli held on Sunday.

Apart from the half marathon – which is considered India’s one of the toughest 21km hill runs – there were 10km, 5km and 3 km runs.

The half marathon run was flagged off by Brig CS Pathania, VSM. The run started from Army Ground, Kasauli, and went out till Jangeshu Village via Parwanoo – Kasauli Road (Old Kasauli Road) and returned onto the same route to finish at Army Ground, Kasauli.

The run had an overall elevation gain of around 4000 feet in a course of 21.1 km and 1950 feet in a 10 km circuit.

The first position in the men’s 21km run was jointly shared between Indian Army personnel Mayangam Lungleng and Amit Singh. Both the runners clocked 01:24:28 hrs. They were followed by another army runner Muzamil Bashir, who clocked 01:26:56 hrs.

Chandigarh’s Simran Kochhar grabbed the first position in the women’s 21km section. She completed her run in 02:22:40 hrs. Ludhiana’s Sameera Auluck finished second (02:23:50 hrs), while Faridabad’s Nisha Tyagi came third (02:31:56 hrs).

In the 10km men’s section too, the top three positions were grabbed by Indian Army runners. Kailash Singh with timing of 36:34 mins won gold, followed by Bhuwan Rana (36:59 mins) and Rohit Kumar (37:33 mins).

Kiran Sodhi from Anandpur Sahib won the top position in the 10km women’s section. She clocked 58:24 mins. Patiala’s Indu Saldi (01:02:53 hrs) came second, while Delhi’s Nandita Bayan (01:05:45 hrs) finished third.   

To be continued...