Hemraj Gurjar, Chhavi Gurjar won national cross country titles

Rajasthan’s Hemraj Gurjar and Railway’s Chhavi Gurjar won the men’s and women’s 10km titles respectively in the 57th National Cross Country Championships here on Sunday. The 23-year-old Hemraj went to the front shortly after the start and went on to win by maintaining his lead till the end. Hemraj had a 25-second lead over his nearest Army rival Anand Singh Rawat till the end of the seven km, but he eventually managed to win by a margin of 10 seconds. Hemraj clocked 30:24.0.

The 30-year-old Chhavi, who mainly competes in steeplechase events, was in front throughout the race. She was overtaken by Maharashtra’s Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav for some time but the Railway runner increased her pace and then overtook her to win by a margin of one second. Last year’s bronze medalist Chhavi clocked 35:5.0 to win her maiden national title. The men’s team of the Army and the women’s team of the Railways won the team titles with their combined efforts. Karnataka’s Shivaji Parashuram M won the Men’s Under-20 8km race with a timing of 24:56.0s, while Gujarat’s Drishtiben Pravinbhai Chowdhary topped the Women’s Under-20 6km race with a timing of 22 minutes.