With the Athletics Federation of India cold shouldering the eighth Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon to be held on January 16 next year, international athletics body AFI's representative would ratify the results, it was learnt.
"Till last year an AFI representative (former national sprint champion and Moscow Olympian Adille Sumariwalla) was ratifying the results, but this time it will be done by IAAF's (international road running technical official) Dave Cundy of Australia," said sources associated with the event.
The Procam International-promoted marathon, which offers a total prize money of US$ 325,000 with the full marathon men's and women's champions set to get richer by $ 36,000 each, will have the support of Maharashtra athletics association's technical officials, the sources said.
"We had written to the AFI about the event but have received no reply from them thus far. But the Maharashtra association's technical officials would be available to conduct the event," the sources informed.
The marathon has the support of the International Association of Athletics Federations and the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, but does not enjoy the patronage this year of the national athletics federation.
AFI's relationship with Procam has been strained since the federation's demand for a steep increase in capitation fee for holding the Bangalore 10k road run was not acceded to by the latter which also conducts the Delhi Half Marathon annually.
Meanwhile, the promoters informed a media conference on Tuesday evening that former Australian women's 400m Olympic champion Cathy Freeman is the this year's Mumbai Marathon's event ambassador.
The full marathon, which has retained the IAAF Gold Label status, would start and end at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus after the marathoners run upto Bandra Reclamation and return via the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
There would be a competitive half marathon race for men and women, with 11,000 participants, that will have a separate start at 06:15 am from Bandra and finish at CST.
The full marathon, which has received 2800 entries, would commence at 07:40 am, the organisers said.
There would be a separate event for wheelchair-bound athletes as well as the Dream Run to raise funds for charity.
"Every year we have seen the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon become bigger and better. It is already the single largest fund raising event for charity in India," said Sreeram Iyer, COO (India and South Asia) of Standard Chartered.
