Hyderabad: Hyderabad is all set to host India’s first ever IAU 50km World Championship at the Necklace Road on November 5.
The city will also host the Ageas Federal Life Insurance Hyderabad Half Marathon along with the international event. The 50km World Championship is being conducted by International Association of Ultra Runners (IAU) and the Athletics Federation of Indian (AFI) and is organised by NEB Sports.
Top ultrarunners from USA, Germany, Japan, Chinese Taipei, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, India and other countries will participate, according to the organisers.
“After successfully hosting the IAU 100km Asia Oceania Championship in Bengaluru this July, we are extremely proud to bring the first-ever Ultra World Championships to India. We are seeing in increasing number of runners taking up this sport and through this prestigious event, we hope to further elevate the sport of ultra-running in the country,” Nadeem Khan, IAU president said.
The Championship will also have open category entries from World Master Athletics, allowing individual runners to participate. The event is supported by Hyderabad Runners. Nagaraj Adiga, the race director and IAU Asia Oceania Council member recognised Indian athletes’ potential in the event and hopeful of great result in the World Championship. India has huge potential in ultra running which is rightly proved in last year’s Asia-Oceania Championship where top three positions were taken by Indian athletes.”
The Half Marathon has three categories – 21.1K (Half Marathon), 10K and 5K. Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and Padma Bhushan Pullela Gopichand will flag off each of the races.