Half marathons in India: Full schedule and 2023 calendar
India’s 2023 half marathon season began in Chennai on January 8 and will conclude in Goa on December 10.
Athletics
Running, as a sport as well as a leisure activity, has gained huge popularity in India and so with it the appeal for half marathons.
While a 42.195km-long standard marathon can be daunting even for professional athletes, the distance of 21.0975km, the half marathon, offers an ideal alternative for professional runners. It’s ideal for those looking for an extended season or amateur runners who want to push themselves to a new limit.
The number of half marathons organised in India has also grown rapidly in recent years. Almost every full marathon event in India offers a half-marathon and even shorter races to encourage participation.
The Delhi Half Marathon and Mumbai Marathon’s half marathon are India’s top races in the segment and are categorised as gold-label races by World Athletics.
Avinash Sable, India’s top men’s long-distance runner and Commonwealth Games 2022 silver medallist in the 3000m steeplechase, holds the men's half marathon national record. Sable clocked the timing of one hour and 30 seconds to win the Indian men's elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2020.
The world record in the men's half marathon belongs to Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who timed 57:31 in Lisbon, Portugal in 2021.
Suriya Loganathan holds the women's half marathon national record with a timing of 1:10:31 at the 2017 Delhi Half Marathon. The world record (1:02:52) was set by Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia in Valencia, Spain in 2021.
While the first-ever full marathon in India was held in Pune in 1918, half marathons were introduced in India regularly only after the turn of the century.
The half marathon is not part of the Olympic programme or the World Athletics Championships. Nevertheless, the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships, first held in 1992, is organised by the global body every two years.
The 2023 Indian half marathon season began with the Chennai Marathon on January 8 and will conclude with the Goa River Marathon race on December 10. February was the busiest for India’s half marathoners with over 10 races scheduled across India in a month. Here’s the 2023 calendar for Indian half marathons.