Mumbai: Armyman Deep Chand Saharan is aiming for a top-ten finish in Sunday's Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon despite the fact that he will be running his second gruelling 42.195-km race in two months.

"I want to finish in the top ten. I won the Allahabad Indira Gandhi Marathon in November after setting my personal best time of 2 hours, 19 minutes and 21 seconds. I was overall fourth, and the first among Indian runners, in the Pune International Marathon", the 31-year-old runner told reporters here today.

Deep Chand, a former Open Nationals 10,000 metre champion, has experience running in Mumbai, having taken part in the half marathon races in 2005 and 2007,but this is the first full marathon he will be taking part in this metropolis.

"I switched over from half to full marathon after losing some of my speed", said the 31-year-old Rajasthan-born athlete who will be India's entrant for the third leg of the Greatest Race On Earth, a relay marathon race. Arpit Kumar is to run the last leg in Hong Kong.

"Satya Prakash and Ram Singh Yadav took part in the first two legs at Nairobi and Singapore and I m the Indian entrant for the third leg (Mumbai)", said Deep Chand.

The fourth and final leg of the GROE is to be held at Hong Kong and Kenyans won both the men's and women's sections in the 2007-08 event. Presently after two legs the Indian men are the best-placed unit among teams from South Asia.

"This is my fifth full marathon. I have also participated in the Australian Marathon at Gold Coast in which I finished overall ninth in 2 hours and 23 minutes", said Deep Chand who started taking part in competitive athletics only when he was 22 years old.

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