The winter chill of a December night did not deter over 8000 people geared up to run at the fifth edition of the Bengaluru International Midnight Marathon (BIMM) at Karnataka Trade Promotion Organization (KPTO), Whitefield on 10th December.

Apart from runners from India, BIMM saw international particpation as 18 runners from Ethipoia, Kenya and a few other countries took part. The Ethiopians dominated the marathon as they won most of the events.

In the closely-fought men's full marathon of 42.195 kms, Yeshewa Abate of Ethiopia pipped fellow-countryman Alemayehu Negash to the first place with a timing of 2 hours 28 minutes and 28 seconds. Negash was a close second with a timing of 2.28.29 followed by Addisu Feyesa from Ethiopia again at 2 hours 31 minutes.

In the half marathon of 21 kms, that had a field of over 750 runners, Yared Admasu of Ethiopia came first followed by Getahun Tilahun and Telfaye Biratu in the third place, also from Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian women too led the full marathon with Rhale Worku coming in at first with a timing of 3 hours 2 minutes and Betuca Bereca taking second place at 3 hours 11 minutes and Almaz Cherkose coming third with a timing of 3 hours 20 minutes.

The half marathon in the women's category was won by Abeyo Teshetu with a timing of 1 hour 17 minutes and Mulunesh Belema in the second place with a timing of 1 hour 19 minutes, both from Ethiopia. The third place went to Helen Millson from US (based in Bangalore).

Dr Neera Katwal, a thirty-five year old fitness trainer and Atreya Chidambi, 33, a graphic designer from Bangalore were the first Indians to complete the full marathon. Both were winners at the Ultra Marathon last month. Vaishali Kasture, MD of Goldman Sachs and Umesh Gowda, a twenty three year old from Mandya, were the first woman and man to complete half marathon.

Races, races, all the way 

The Half Marathon and Full Marathon were flagged off when the clock struck 12 midnight. This was followed by the 40 km Women's Relay at 12 15 am and 40 km Corporate Relay with eight members in each team at 12 30 am.

Earlier in the evening, several other races were held. The 2.5 km Community Relay (each of the five members run 500 metres) at 7pm included races for children amongst others. This was followed by the 5 km 'IT City Fun Run', which saw around 4000 runners from all age groups participating.

The 10 kms race  at 10 pm (popularly called '10k at 10') run which was introduced for the first time this year and saw a participation of over 2000 people. The enthusiasm was at such a peak that when the announcer's 30-second countdown to the 10K reached 2 second left, participants burst through the tape. The announcer merely merely went through 'two-one-zero' as a formality. 

Full list of winners (In order of their position) -

Full Marathon:

Men's

Yeshewas Abate- 25 years (2: 28: 28)

Alemayehu Negash- 29 years (2: 28:29)

Addisu Feyesa- 20 years (2: 31:01)

Athreya Chidambi - First Indian man to finish the Full Marathon

Women's

Rhale Worku (3:02:53)

Betuca Bereca (3:11: 14)

Almaz Cherkose (3:20:47)

Dr. Neera Katwal - First Indian woman to finish the Full Marathon

Half Marathon:

Men's

Yared Admasu (1: 08:13)

Getahun Tilahun (1:09:16)

Tejfaye Biratu (1: 12: 42)

Indian men who finished the Half Marathon

Umesh Gowda-

Vignesh U

Karthik

Women's

Abeyo Teshetu (1: 17: 02)

Mulunesh Belema (1: 19:11)

Helen Millson (1:30: 12)

Vaishali Kasture - First Indian woman to finish the race

10k run:

Men's

Endale Abayneh

Tibebu Wolatmariam

Ibrahim Seid

Women's

Meserte Zerebe

Woertn

Shoko Nakamura

Adecco IT City Run:

Men's

Rakesh R

Anil R

Thomas

Women's

Isabella

Rachita

Sai Meera

Community Relay:

Adults:

Yuva Jayanagar

Adarsh Palm Meadows

TZED Homes

Kids (8-12 yrs):

Chaitanya Armdale

Water Woods

Prestige

Corporate Relay:

TESCO

Vanavasi Kalyan-NGO

Hewlett Packard

Womens Relay:

Indic

Runner Girls India

Oracle

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Yogaraj Mudalgi is a Bangalore-based journalist.

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