Bengaluru, Oct 8 (IANS): Services Sports Control Board’s Anish Thapa and Maharashtra’s Jyoti Gawate surged to victory in the Bengaluru Marathon to clinch the two coveted crowns, here on Sunday.

Governor of Karnataka Thawar Chand Gehlot flagged off over 25,000 running and fitness enthusiasts early in the morning to provide a festive touch to the much-awaited event which boasted three categories: the full marathon (42.195 km), the half marathon (21.1 km) and the 5km Hope Run.

For Anish Thapa this is a double of sorts after winning the New Delhi Marathon, also organised by NEB Sports, earlier this year. He stopped the clock at 2:18:06 to comfortably beat Akshay Saini (SSCB) and Kuldeep Singh (UP) in his wake.

Jyoti Gawate (3:08:53), on the other hand, had to ward off a stiff fight from Ashvini Jadhav (3:09:00), also of Maharashtra, to emerge the women’s champion.

Nagaraj Adiga, Race Director, Bengaluru Marathon, said, “It is remarkable to see such enthusiastic participation year after year. We look forward to making this event even bigger in the coming editions. This would not be possible without the support of our sponsors like Wipro, Partners, Bengaluru Police and the running community.”

Speaking on the occasion, Thawar Chand Gehlot said, “It is a pleasure to see the citizens of Bengaluru come out this early morning and participate in such large numbers today.”He also appreciated the Indian team’s performance at the Asian Games

Arjuna awardee Reeth Abraham, the brand ambassador of the event, said, “Running has become a part of the urban lifestyle and events like this just make it a community activity.WBM is indeed the pride of Bengaluru and I sincerely hope more and more citizens will come forward to cheer the runners in the coming years”