Photo provided by Cummins Leo Portaluppi, representing Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Columbus, hands the keys to Dhananjay Awale.
Dhananjay Awale was announced as the winner of this year’s Mill Race Marathon new truck giveaway during the Stumble and Sip marathon after party Saturday afternoon.
Upon hearing his name and running to the Finish on 4th stage, waving to the crowd all the way up there, he only had a few words to say on stage.
“Thank you so much Mill Race Marathon.”
He and his wife Prerna Awale took home a 2025 DodgeRam 2500 Tradesman Crew Cab 4 by 4, courtesy of a collaboration between the Mill Race Marathon, Cummins and Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Columbus. It features a granite crystal metallic clear coat finish and is powered by a Cummins engine.
“We are very happy and I don’t know if we can recover from this shock,” Dhananjay said.
Dhananjay, a software engineer at Deloitte, ran in the half marathon, while Prerna, an employee with Walgreens, ran in the 5k. He has been running in half marathons every weekend for six months now, which he began doing after he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
“… for that, the doctor said, ‘you need to be taking medicine and take a lot of rest and then only you will recover from that,’” Dhananjay said. “But I thought, ‘no, I’m just 45 years old and why do I sit inside, so let’s do something else which I have not done in my life before.’”
He said it felt exhilarating to have won the new truck, but he and Prerna said they have a lot of thinking to do as to where they will put it. He comes from India but he has been a resident of Columbus for eight years now, and both he and his wife said they love Columbus.
“We just don’t want to leave from here,” Dhananjay said. “We’ll go somewhere else as a tourist but we will live here.”
Prior to Dhananjay winning the new truck, former mayor Fred Armstrong drew a winner of a new 12-inch gas pizza oven, courtesy of Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Dylan Brock, an employee with the Columbus Cummins Engine Plant, was announced as the winner of the oven, coming from the back of the crowd with his 4-year-old daughter Adri in his arms to claim his prize.
“It feels great to win something of course and it makes running the (half) marathon that much worthwhile,” Brock said.
