The Kolkata Marathon (officially IDBI Federal Life Insurance Kolkata Full Marathon) is a marathon held annually in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was launched in 2008. The marathon is the largest in Eastern India and the only full marathon held in Kolkata.

Organisation

The marathon is authorised by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). For 2016 edition

IDBI Federal Life Insurance Ageas Federal Life Insurance Co Ltd. (Formerly known as IDBI Federal Life Insurance) is a joint-venture of Federal Bank, which is a private sector banks in India and Ageas. Ageas Federal distributes its products through a multi-channel network ...

will be the title sponsors of the marathon. The marathon is managed by the HighLife Management. The 2016 marathon will also be an official qualifier round for the marathon events in the

Rio Olympics 2016 ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

is the title sponsor for 2017 edition of the race. Indian cricket player

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

is the Brand Ambassador for the 2017 marathon.

Participants

The race has five categories of competition. Along with the traditional full and half marathon distances, there is also a 10 km open run, 10 km corporate run and 5 km fun run for children. In the first edition of the marathon, nearly 6,000 runners participated; the number of runners increased to 15,000 in 2015. Only Indian athletes are eligible for the prize money; according to organisers, the aims of the marathon are to provide a platform for Indian competitors and to promote athletics at the grass-root level in India. In 2015, the prize money for the winner of the full marathon was , while 2nd and 3rd finishers were awarded and respectively.

Course

The marathon starts from the Red Road in front of the Rangers club. The course then goes through the various landmarks in the city, including historic Park Street, Maidan and the Victoria area.

Past winners

Key:

References

{{Road running competitions in India Marathons in India Sport in Kolkata 2008 establishments in West Bengal Recurring sporting events established in 2008