Living on marathons

Two-time champion Jyoti Gawte did her personal best timing in Tata Mumbai Marathon on Sunday but it wasn’t enough for her to complete hat-trick of titles here. Sudha Singh who created a course record for Indian women with timing of 2:34:55 piped her for the second consecutive year to bag top podium finish. Gawte finished second like last year bettering her timing of 2:50:47 in 2018 to 2:45:48 this year. This was her sixth podium finish in Mumbai Marathon.

The Parbhani native in Maharashtra was winner here in 2017 when top long distance runners Sudha, OP Jaisha and Lalita Babar had skipped the race. She won first time in 2011 but her first podium finish was in 2010 when she bagged bronze and repeated that feat in 2014. The 31-year-old has shown remarkable consistency winning 16 marathons out of the total 33 races she has participated so far.

The habit of winning prize money has kept her going as she relies heavily on it. Despite success she doesn’t show emotions as nothing good has followed after wins so far.

“I rely on prize money for preparations to run in races. I have never been called for any national camp and am without a job. I have stopped expecting anything now,” said Gawte.

The Rs 4 lakh she won would now be utlised to clear debits and prepare for next event. “I am participating in Delhi Marathon on February 24. I am hopeful to recover well in time and start training for that,” she said.

Due to her poor financial background she participates in as many road races she can and depend on conventional diet as she can’t afford international branded sports supplements.

“We have our own native diet. We rely heavily on it and take dry fruits and fruits instead of sports supplements,” she said. “Her family isn’t financially well, as her father retired as a fourth class employee in State Transport department and her elder brother is working as Police Constable in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra (Naxalite area). Her brother takes care of the family while Jyoti also helps him besides taking care of her diet, training and travel,” Ravi Rasqatla who has been coaching Gawte since 2003, said.

(Shripad Naik)

Rasqatla was happy with her trainees performance. “She has done double hat-trick of titles in Allahabad, the only Indian to do so. She has hat-trick of titles each in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Here also she was in good shape and ran well with Romanian pace maker and we were hoping to make hat-trick of titles here also. But Sudha ran really well toda,” he explained.

The former Maharashtra sprinter who trains Gawte along with other 15-16 young athletes at Agriculture University Campus in Parbhani and uses small high altitude at nearby Indrayani Devi Temple to prepare them for demanding conditions. He however is concerned about lack of support towards her top athlete.

“She has done BA BEd but has failed to get good job. She was selected in Mumbai Police in 2014 and she feared it may impact her marathon career so she had reservations at that time. She was told she can join anytime but she was never called again,” he signed off.