Though they were competing for the first time with professional athletes, the 10 tribal runners from different villages of Dhule district’s Shirpur Taluka impressed all at the Thane Half Marathon on Sunday. Anil Pawara, 17, clocked 35 minutes and 59secs for the 10km run, while in the U-14 category (4km run), Shakila Vasave (eight minutes) and Anjali Padavi (12 minutes), secured the first and second place respectively.

The men’s 10km run was dominated by army men with Rahul Kumar Rajbhar emerging the winner, clocking 30 minutes and 25 seconds. In women’s 10km category, Bharti Nain took first place with a timing of 36 minutes, while Riya Pawara (48 min, 20 secs) and Sapana Pawara (49 min, 32 secs) secured eighth and ninth place respectively.