Thane : It was raw rural talent versus professionally coached city athletes at the Thane Mayor's Marathon on Jul 18 where hundreds of young adivasis competed with 30,000-plus participants in the much-awaited annual event of the district calendar.

The impressive turnout of adivasi boys and girls from ashram schools of Talasari, Wada and Dahanu, was the most noticeable feature of the marathon this year. Almost all of these promising athletes, who participated in the below 15 years of age category running the 5-km stretch with practised ease, were barefoot and clad in their school uniforms.

"The adivasi athletes have definitely outshined others. Their training and diet plan comprises regular running around and basic dal-rice. Such untapped talent goes waste because of lack of resources. The results of the Thane marathon are an eye-opener for state authorities and sport administrators who have neglected these budding athletes,'' mayor Ashok Vaiti said.

The first citizen's views were echoed by Thane resident Salil Menon, a sports enthusiast. "The performance of Vandana Dalvi and Sadhna Malkari (both adivasis from Talasari and Wada respectively) who ranked first and second in the five-km run with a record time of 18.39 and 18.41 minutes was remarkable. We don't mean to belittle the city-bred but the fact remains that most wearing fancy shoes and sportswear were left chasing the shadows of adivasi athletes,'' Menon said.

In the three km-run for the under 12-years girls category, the first prize was won by adivasi Rohini Dapat from an ashram school in Wada taluka. The winner of the 21-km full marathon was Deepak Kumar of the Bombay Engineering Group (BEG) who recorded a timing of 1.10 minutes with Paras Kumar of WR (1.11 minutes) coming in second.