The top five spots at the 25th Pune International Marathon were taken by runners from Ethiopia and Kenya.

Send your runners over if they want to be champs: Kenya

The top five spots at the 25th Pune International Marathon were taken by runners from Ethiopia and Kenya.
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Though the energy and enthusiasm of most of the spectators knew no bounds, as they hardly gave an ear or an eye to the positions at the finish but were immersed in enjoying the glitz and glamour of the event, the fact remained that it was a sad moment for Indian runners and sports fans.

Birzaf Tekele Gebru, Chaltu Moha Ture and Abebech Tsegaya Adhana (all from Ethiopia) came first, second and third in the women's marathon

While Gudeta Biratu (Ethiopia), Cosmos Keyeva (Kenya) and Tumicha Horsa (Ethiopia) came first, second and third respectively in the 42 km full marathon for men, Birzaf Tekele Gebru, Chaltu Moha Ture and Abebech Tsegaya Adhana (all from Ethiopia) came first, second and third respectively in the full marathon for women.

The Indian men and women could not even make it to the top 10 spots. Deepchand Saharan booked the 14th spot in the marathon for men and Jyoti Gawate bagged the 11th spot among women.

Talent not enough

Paul Mutwii, Kenya coach and vice-chairman of Athletics Kenya, who has accompanied athletes from the country to India to participate in various marathons for numerous years, said though Indian runners were talented, they were not getting proper training.

"They need competitive trainers who can impart make them tough and show them the correct techniques," Mutwii said. "They have the ability, but lack motivation and guidance."

The coach pointed out that every country across the globe feared the Kenyans and the Ethiopians because of their skills in long distance running.

"It's always a difficult task beating our runners. One sees mostly Kenyans and Ethiopians participating in the marathons and very few athletes from other countries," he said.

"The runners in our country are trained in a planned manner. They have a strict regime and we all work hard. Once a week, we have a full marathon and then half marathons."u00a0u00a0

He said an exchange programme for athletes from India and Kenya might help.

"Once these runners come to our country and see the training procedure and go through it, it will definitely help them. We are very open to the exchange and have even spoken to the concerned authorities," he said. "I see there is talent in runners like Kavita Raut, but she doesn't get the correct advice."

Men's marathon runner-up Cosmos Keyeva said the Kenyans trained hard to better their performance all the time and that they did it with a winner's attitude.

"We run every day for an hour, but on the weekends we run for almost three hours," he said. "We work on our speed and stretching."

He said proper equipment was also a must.

"I saw this Indian guy during the race who was leading till the 5-km mark but lost speed after that. He was barefoot and I felt sorry for him," Keyeva said.

Indian runner Deepchand Saharan, who always finished in the top 10 in previous races, was disappointed with his performance. He said the runners from Kenya and Ethiopia were a tough lot.

"Because of my injury I could not run properly," he said.