Dozens of professional runners took part in the Delhi half-marathon on Sunday (November 29) despite warnings over pollution levels.

Experts advised against the race going ahead as the average Air Quality Index (AQI) remained above 450 for the past 15 days, this is nine times above the permissible safe limit.

Due to coronavirus restrictions, this race was confined to elite runners without spectators.

In spite of this double whammy of the virus and pollution, the 16th edition of the Airtel Delhi half marathon concluded today with one of the strongest line-ups in its history. Delhi is now witnessing a surge in Covid cases. On average for the last 20 days, the city has seen numbers in excess of 6,000 cases per day. These numbers make the capital one of the worst affected cities in the country. Add to this the spike in air pollution levels in the past few days, experts advised running marathons wasn't a good idea. For the last 15 days, the average AQI has remained above 450, which is nine times above the permissible safe limit. But despite all the warnings and health advisory, following all the safety protocols the event happened as scheduled on 29th Nov.

This is one of the biggest sports events since the lockdown was announced in India. Unlike previous years, the race was confined to the elite runners, international and domestic. The coronavirus pandemic meant the elite athletes tackled the course without many spectators or the buzz of thousands of enthusiastic amateur participants. They were still motivated to go all out as the course record was smashed in the men’s and women’s races by a decent margin.


Ethiopia’s Amdework Walelegn outsprinted compatriot and twice champion Andamlak Belihu in the last 200m, winning a thrilling men’s race with a meet record of 58 min, 53 secs. Belihu clocked 58:54. Uganda’s Stephen Kissa was third in 58:56. Edris came fourth at 59:04. All went under the course record of 59:06 set by Guye Adola in 2014. Walelegn took the top prize of $27,000.