Fifteen years old, bright and bespectacled, Meera Mehta set a new precedent this year. She is the youngest fundraiser for the marathon, having managed to raise over Rs 10 lakh for her charity.

Mehta, a student of Aditya Birla World Academy School, has raised funds for the NGO Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care, which does social work for patients and rural children.

Tannistha Sanyal, a 27-year-old alumnus of IIT-Bombay, has raised Rs 85,500 for Avanti Fellows, an organisation of IIT alumni, which offers low-income high-school students training for entry into the top engineering and medical colleges.

Apart from raising double the amount of what she raised last year at the Delhi marathon, Sanyal this year managed to complete the 21 km race 40 minutes earlier.

Sanyal, who left her corporate job to work at Avanti Fellows, is raising funds for its learning centre in Puducherry, which has a batch of 50 high school students.

Of the 17 students who graduated from Pondicherry Academy last year, seven qualified in the JEE Advanced exam.

This year, Sanyal said, the plan was to raise 25 per cent of the cost of the Puducherry programme.

That works out to Rs 4 lakh for 50 students.

This year the Mumbai Marathon raised over Rs 16 crore for 269 NGOs through the support of 171 companies, fielding 265 teams, 2,620 charity fundraisers and over 24,000 donors.

Oldest participant Eighty-three-year-old R.A. Taraporewala was the oldest participant this year.

He started running at the age of 50 with an aim to climb Mt Everest.

He gyms thrice a week, doing light weights and cardios. Taraporewala collected Rs 8.32 lakh for the Society for the Education of the Crippled.

Indic Inc too has been pouring in with contributions for charities of their choice. Edelweiss Financial Services saw the participation of 45 employees, including Chairman Rashesh Shah, and raised Rs 20 lakh.

“We are witnessing an amazing response from people across the spectrum who have shown enthusiasm in running for a cause they truly believe in and raise funds for it,” said Jayanti Shukla, Executive Director, United Way of Mumbai, which is the charity partner for the marathon.

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