Santosh Kumar of Maharashtra and Pampa Chanda of West Bengal bagged the honours among men and women respectively in the third edition of Chennai Marathon here today. Santhosh clocked one hour seven minutes and nine seconds in the 21.09 km run to claim top prize of Rs 3 lakh. In the women's event, Pampa won with a timing of one hour 21 minutes and 42 seconds. Among Tamil Nadu men, Nagendra Rao was the fastest, clocking one hour, seven minutes and 16 seconds in the event, organised with aid of 'GiveLife' charity. Among Tamil Nadu women, Sudha grabbed top honours, with Padmavathi and Shanthi coming in second and third respectively. Though the race was supported by stars like Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinnappa (both squash), R Vijayan (football) and Dinesh Karthick (cricket), they could not participate due to prior sporting commitments. Actor Sneha and athlete Shanti Soundarajan, whose career ended in controversy over a failed gender test after winning a silver in the 800 metres at Doha Asian Games were among those present to flag off the marathon. Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi, who distributed the prizes, said the main aim of the marathon was to raise enough funds to help build a better future for children being supported by the charity. Besides Kanimozhi, Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Mohideen Khan, IT Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna and Chennai Mayor M Subramanyan were present on the occasion. "More than 70,000 runners participated in the general run," organisers said. Proceeds from the charity are utilised to provide education for downtrodden children. "This is a unique marathon, very different from Delhi and Mumbai marathons because it supports a cause. With support generated from the last two editions, we have been able to educate 8,600 children," the charity's trustee Jegath Gaspar Raj said. Results: National Event: Women: 1 Pampa Chanda (West Bengal) 1:21:42. 2 Preethi Rao (Karnataka) 1:23:50. Rameshwari (Kerala) 1:24:48; Men: 1 Santosh Kumar (Maharashtra) 1:07:09. 2 Sunil Kumar (Haryana) 1:07:17. Ajay Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 1:08:53. Tamil Nadu winners: Women: 1 Sudha 1:25:13. 2 Padmavathy 1:34:11. 3 Shanti 1:34:18; Men: 1 Nagendra 1:11:16. 2 B C Thilak 1:11:54. Rajesh 1:13:68.
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