BELGAUM: An 87-year-old athlete from Belgaum, Shrikrishna Dattatraya Deshpande, stole the show at the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon-2012 held at Mumbai recently. He participated in the half-marathon and covered a distance of 21 km in 3 hours 41 minutes and 45 seconds.
It was a wonder for the spectators to watch Deshpande run such a distance. More than 3,000 participants had to avail medical help before completing the competition. But not Deshpande, who did not even have a sip of water.
He ran barefoot and used socks to tie an electronic chip to his foot. Participants aged above 65 years are called super veteran competitors.
There were 200 competitors, among whom Deshpande ranked 48.