Mumbai: A seven-year-old marathoner from Orissa on Sunday showed his long-distance running prowess to the people of Mumbai, by running nearly 68 km to spread the message of peace even as he collapsed at least 12 km before the scheduled finishing point.

Mrutunjay Mandal marathoned his way from Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district to Peddar Road in south Mumbai, where he collapsed and could not reach the scheduled final destination, Gateway of India, of the 80-km run, according to the organisers.The Standard III student from Orissa's silk city Berhampur, began running at 4 am from Durgadi fort in Kalyan collapsed about 12 km before the final destiantion, said Shrikant Kumar Padhi, president of the Rashtriya Oriya Yuvak Pratishtan, which organised the marathon for spreading peace and harmony.

Later, the boy was brought to the Gateway of India by a car, the organiser said.Earlier, the organisers had claimed that the boy had covered the scheduled 80 km of the run.Mrutunjay was accompanied by four doctors and followed by 17 motor bikes and five four-wheelers from the starting point.At least 50 people ran at a time from different localities he was passing through to promote the message of peace, Padhi said.

Earlier, four-year-old Oriya boy Budhia Singh's long-distance running had kicked off a controversy. Budhia who ran 65 km in seven hours on May 2 in his home State, was banned from marathoning following a medical report that said that the boy was "undernourished, anaemic and under cardiological stress."(PTI)