The Tata Group has been named as the new title sponsor of Mumbai Marathon, the country’s premier marathon event. The event will now be called TATA Mumbai Marathon from the next edition in 2018.  The Mumbai Marathon with the new sponsor will be held on January 21, 2018.
The salt-to-software conglomerate replaces Standard Chartered Bank which was the sponsor of the event for more than a decade.
Vivek Singh of Procam International, the promoter of Mumbai Marathon, announced that the diversified, $102- billion Tata Sons will helm the marathon for the next decade.
“The entry of Tata’s into running will make world a better place,” Singh said at an event in Mumbai.
Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, himself a distance runner, said, “It (running) teaches you tenacity, it teaches you perseverance, it teaches you persistence, patience. It makes you observe things. Running and marathon running, to me, finding a relationship with yourself”.
“It’s a great city. I look forward to being part of the marathon and hope many many people will enjoy the race and Bombay hopefully someday becomes one of the world majors,” added Chandrasekaran.
It may be noted that at present, annual marathons in six cities – Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City – make the world majors.
Legendary Ethiopian runner Haile Gebrselassie urged the runners to train for the mega event.
Maharashtra Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, John Abraham, the face of the Marathon, actress Gul Panag, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Mumbai Cricket Association president Ashish Shelar among others were present on the occasion.
The Tata Mumbai Marathon (previously known as Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon) is an annual international marathon held in Mumbai, on the third Sunday of January every year. It is the largest marathon in Asia as well as the largest mass participation sporting event on the continent. It is the richest race in India with a prize pool of USD $386,667.
The Tata Mumbai Marathon has five different race categories: Marathon (42.194 Kms), Half Marathon (21.097 Kms), Dream Run (6 Kms), Senior Citizens Race (4.3 Kms), and Champions with Disability category (2.4 Kms).

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