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The people’s newsroom

StatesJammu and Kashmir

Kenyans sweep Kashmir Marathon as Srinagar road closures push JKSET exam back two hours

About 2,000 runners took over Srinagar's lakeside roads for the third Kashmir International Marathon, but the traffic curbs left exam candidates stranded and forced a delayed start to the state eligibility test.

From the editorial desk · SrinagarPublished
Nishat Bagh on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar (file photo)
Nishat Bagh on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar (file photo)Photos: McKay Savage / Wikimedia Commons; Abid Sidiq Ahanger / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, CC BY 4.0

Key points

  1. Kenyan runners won both full marathon titles at the third Kashmir International Marathon.
  2. The race offered a prize pool of ₹3.17 crore, with ₹25 lakh for each open-category winner.
  3. The JKSET exam was moved from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm as candidates struggled to reach centres.

Kenyan runners won both full marathon titles at the third Kashmir International Marathon on Sunday, as about 2,000 athletes ran through Srinagar’s lakeside boulevards. The road closures that made the race possible had a cost elsewhere in the city: candidates for the Jammu and Kashmir State Eligibility Test (JKSET) struggled to reach their centres, and the exam was pushed back by two hours.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah flagged off the 42.195 km full marathon at 6:30 am, with the half marathon following at 7:45 am. Abdullah, who ran in the first two editions, did not run this year. The course took in Lal Chowk, the Boulevard and Foreshore Road along Dal Lake, and Nishat Garden.

Kenya on top

Emmanuel Sikuku Ndiwa won the men’s full marathon and Sheila Jepkosgei Chesang the women’s, extending Kenya’s grip on the elite field. Each open-category winner takes home ₹25 lakh from a total prize pool of ₹3.17 crore.

This year the organisers added a separate category for runners from Jammu and Kashmir, with ₹4 lakh for the local full marathon winner and ₹2 lakh for the half. Kulbir Singh and Neha Dewi were reported as the local full marathon winners.

In all, 1,807 runners registered online: 1,221 from Jammu and Kashmir, 513 from other states and 73 athletes from 12 countries. Most chose the shorter race, with 1,416 entered for the half marathon and 391 for the full distance.

Before the start, Kenya’s Amin Tanchero kept his ambitions modest. “I hope for the best today. I want to improve my performance,” he said.

The crowds along the route found their own heroes. A woman named Kulsum ran with a child in her arms, and Shivam Kumar, a runner from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh who has no arms, also completed the course.

Exam candidates caught in the closures

The traffic curbs for the race left many JKSET candidates stuck on the way to examination centres in Srinagar. The test was moved from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm so that those delayed could sit it.

A tourism showcase

The administration sees the race as a way to sell Kashmir to the world. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha praised the runners on X. “I salute every participant whose determination made this event a true celebration of the human spirit,” he wrote.

The Chief Minister’s office said the marathon “is emerging as a flagship sporting event” and was strengthening the region’s place as a sports tourism destination. Syed Qamar Sajjad, Director of Tourism Kashmir, has said the race “will be a brand of the Tourism Department and a regular feature every year.”