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“Stay within your zone in the first half of the marathon race” was one of the instructions army coach, KC Ramu, gave to his athletes Srinu Bugatha and Belliappa AB when the duo boarded a flight to compete at the Valencia marathon held on Sunday (December 4).
However, in an excitement to compete in their first overseas marathon, both Bugatha and Belliappa “incidentally” forget the instructions of their coach and ran faster than their economical speed in the first 21km. Running faster in the opening 21km resulted in Bugatha quitting the race at 35km and Belliappa suffering cramps in the closing stages of the 42km race.
Bugatha was in the 50th spot at the 30km mark and eventually quit the race. Belliappa managed to pull through despite suffering from cramps and finished 50th with a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes and 51 seconds. It was his personal best.
According to Ramu, overseeing army’s marathon running project in Pune, the conservative pace in the first half of the grueling marathon race enables the competitor to finish strong.
Over the phone from Pune, Ramu told Sportskeeda:
“The training of both Bugatha and Beilliappa was good, but they couldn’t execute the plan.
“Since they ran the first 21km of the marathon faster than expected, it resulted in slowing down in the closing stages of the race.”
As planned, the army runners were supposed to run the first 21km in 1 hour, six minutes and 30 seconds for an average time of below 2 hours and 14 minutes for the marathon distance. However, Bugatha covered 21km in 1 hour, 05 minutes and 8 seconds. Beilliappa was close behind.
Ramu explained:
“The weather on Sunday in Valencia was conducive for distance running.”
“But both Bugatha and Beilliappa made the mistake of not sticking to their own pace but ran faster in the first 21km and later paid the price of running out of gas.”
The army coach said the Valencia marathon was a good opportunity for the Indian runners to take advantage of the world class field.
The coach revealed:
“Competing on European circuit without having sponsors is challenging for Indian athletes. The Spanish tour was possible with the financial support from well- wishers.”
Indian marathon runner Srinu Bugatha will next compete in February
Bugatha’s personal best of 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 59 seconds was clocked in March 2021. Earlier this year, he also qualified for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. However, he wasn’t selected by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the Commonwealth Games as there was just one slot for the marathon, which was given to Olympian Nitender Singh Rawat, whose time was better than Bugatha.
The next stop for elite army runners will be the national marathon in February 2023.
Ramu added:
“Bugatha and Belliappa will not compete in the Mumbai Marathon in January next year as it will take time to recover and build up for the next marathon race.”
“February will be a good time to test their endurance again.”
