SYDNEY
\nDanish Elahi was the fastest Pakistani runner at the Sydney Marathon on Sunday, completing the 42.195-kilometre race in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 7 seconds as a sizeable Pakistani and Pakistani-origin contingent took part in one of the world\u2019s major marathon events.
\nElahi finished ahead of Nosherwan Nawazish Ali, who clocked 3:49:11, while Dr Rabia Naeem was the fastest Pakistani woman, completing the race in 3:52:25.
\nMuhammad Naveed Hasan finished in 3:55:58, followed by Aamar Butt in 3:57:06 and Hira Diwan in 3:57:24.
\nThe Sydney Marathon attracted more than 40,000 runners from more than 140 countries, according to the organisers, and is now part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.
\nThe race takes runners across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and through some of the city\u2019s most recognisable landmarks before finishing near the Sydney Opera House.
\nElahi, who was running his seventh marathon, had said before the race that he would wear shalwar kameez as part of an effort to present a positive and softer image of Pakistan.
\nAmong the other notable Pakistani performances, Kaukab Sarwar finished in 4:04:19, Dr Adnan Afzal in 4:04:31, Umer Rasheed in 4:21:53 and Noman Akbar in 4:22:06.
\nAreeb Imran crossed the line in 4:33:27, while Muhammad Yousuf and Mir Shahzad finished in 4:37:09 and 4:38:41 respectively.
\nKhalid Sheikh completed the race in 4:47:35, while Dr Jehanzeb Mughal finished in 4:55:19 and Hasnain Dharamsey in 4:58:38.
\nAmong the later finishers, Qamar Zia recorded 5:21:11, Muhammad Zaid Farooq 5:46:42, Zain Alam 5:51:48, Junaid Memon 5:59:03, Arif Ullah 6:06:37, Jawwad Yusuf 6:09:27, Tabish Mukhtar 6:20:30 and Mohammad Shoaib Nizami 6:34:53.
\nAmong those completing the race was Geo News Deputy Sports Editor Faizan Lakhani, who finished in 4:54:41.
\nFor Lakhani, Sydney marked his third full marathon and his first Abbott World Marathon Major, following months of training and preparation. He also used the race to raise funds for Parkinson\u2019s UK. The Pakistani participation reflected the growing presence of runners from the country and its diaspora at major international marathons, with participants representing communities based in Pakistan, Australia, the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY Danish Elahi was the fastest Pakistani runner at the Sydney Marathon on Sunday, completing the 42.195-kilometre race in 3 hours, 29 minutes and 7 seconds as a sizeable Pakistani and Pakistani-origin contingent took part in one of the world\u2019s major marathon events. Elahi finished ahead of Nosherwan Nawazish Ali, who clocked 3:49:11, while Dr […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n