Reshma Patel won the under-20 10km at the eighth National/ fourth International Race Walking Championships in Ranchi, on the second and final day of the competition on Sunday.
With the women’s 35km shelved due to lack of entries — the best walkers focussing on the 20km instead — the spotlight was on Reshma and Munita Prajapati, who had set new junior National records in 5,000m and 10,000m race walk respectively at the National junior championships in Guwahati only last week.
While Reshma completed the event in 49 minutes 28 seconds, a comfortable 29 seconds quicker than second-placed Geeta Lohar.
Olympian Manish Rawat won the inaugural men’s 35km event in 2:49:12, a nine-minute margin over second-placed Ganapati Krishnan of Tamil Nadu.
In the 50km, Punjab’s 36-year-old Gurpreet Singh won in a personal best time of 3 hours 59 minutes 42 seconds and became the fifth Indian to break the 4-hour mark over the distance.
The results:
Men: 50km: 1. Gurpreet Singh (Pun, 3:59:42), 2. Ram Baboo (UP, 4:05:10), 3. Sagar Joshi (Guj, 4:12:06); 35km: 1. Manish Rawat (Utk, 2:49:12), 2. Ganapati Krishnan (TN, 2:58:23), 3. Vikash (Del, 3:08:43).
U-20, 10km: Men: 1. Vishvendra Singh (MP, 42:14), 2. Paramjeet Singh Bishy (Utk, 42:16), 3. Bajrangi Prajapati (MP, 44:16). Women: 1. Reshma Patel (Utk, 49:28), 2. Geeta Lohar (Raj, 49:57), 3. Munita Prajapati (UP, 51:30).
