City’s V.C. Venkatesh, a 56-year-old marathon runner, completed Australia Goldcoast Marathon in July 2023 and based on his finish time which was 12 minutes faster than his age group qualifying time, he has been selected to run at Boston Marathon on April 15, 2024.

With this, he becomes the first Mysurean to participate in the Boston Marathon across any age group/gender.

Recently at the Mumbai Marathon, he once again achieved a Boston Qualifying time of  3hrs:25min:42sec that put him in the Top 10 in his age group (55-59) and in top 3% of all the runners (265/8800 full marathon runners).

Venkatesh is the Founder of The Strategy Labs, Mysuru, an IT consulting company and resides at Vijayanagar 4th Stage, Mysuru.

It may be mentioned here that V.C. Venkatesh and city dentist Dr. Usha Hegde had become first Mysureans to complete Delhi Marathon (42.195-km) in the Boston Marathon Qualifying time in 2020. However, owing to COVID conditions and cancellation, they couldn’t participate in the 2021 or 2022 editions.

The post First Mysurean to run Boston Marathon appeared first on Star of Mysore.

V.C. Venkatesh and Dr. Usha Hegde became the first Mysureans to complete Delhi Marathon (42.195-km) in the Boston Marathon Qualifying time. The Marathon was held on Sunday last.

To participate in Boston Marathon, one has to reach the specified qualifying timing in Marathons certified by Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).

While 52-year-old Venkatesh completed the Delhi Run in 3-hours-22-minutes, which is Boston Marathon Qualifying timing for men in 50-54 years category, 48-year-old Dr. Usha Hegde finished the Marathon in 3-hours-47-minutes, the Boston Qualifying timing for women in 45-49 years category.

Venkatesh is the Founder of The Strategy Labs, Mysuru, an IT consulting company and resides at Vijayanagar 4th Stage. Dr. Usha Hegde is a dentist and Head of the Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology at JSS Dental College in city. She also has to her credit of becoming the first woman from city to have finished the Ironman Western Australia 2019 Triathlon.

Speaking to Star of Mysore about his aim of participating in Boston Marathon 2021, Venkatesh said: “Boston Marathon is like the holy grail for Marathon runners. I have been running Marathons in India for the past seven years. Every year I usually take part only in two Marathons — Mumbai and Chennai. But this year, I took part in Delhi Marathon because I had earlier in January missed the Boston Qualifying time in Mumbai Marathon by a few minutes.”

Speaking about his preparation for Marathons, Venkatesh said: “I run all my training runs in University of Mysore campus. I follow a particular training schedule. I go for three runs in a week and also go for physiotherapy and follow proper nutritious diet. And for Delhi event, I started training from July last.”

The post Mysureans complete Delhi Marathon in Boston Marathon Qualifying timing appeared first on Star of Mysore.