Guruvayur (Kerala), Mar 9 : Thousands of people thronged Kerala''s Guruvayur Temple to watch the annual jumbo race.

Some 34 elephants lined up for the event from which ten were selected for the race which heralds the beginning of a ten-day festival in the temple dedicated to Lord Krishna.

The race began from a revered banyan tree and culminated with a 33-year-old tusker named Gopi Kannan, named after the temple deity winning the race.

Gopi Kannan raced past four other tuskers to enter the temple premises and went straight in to the sanctum sanctorum.