What will it take for Indian marathoners to set a new record?

A good way to improve your marathon capability is to train with athletes who are better than you. Doing that helps you build up the miles and endurance.  (Unsplash/Steven Lelham)
A good way to improve your marathon capability is to train with athletes who are better than you. Doing that helps you build up the miles and endurance. (Unsplash/Steven Lelham)

Summary

India’s marathon national record of 2 hours 12 minutes, set by Shivnath Singh in 1978, still stands unbeaten. Lounge asks experts about what needs to be done to shake things up

In 2004, Kenya’s Paul Tergat held the marathon world record with a timing of 2:04:55, which he had set in Berlin a year earlier. That was the year India witnessed its first serious mass participation road race — then called Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.  In the last two decades, the interest in distance running has grown manifold in India sprouting races and runners by the thousands across the country. Yet, India’s marathon national record stands unchallenged for about 50 years. Shivnath Singh set it in Jalandhar in 1978 with a timing of 2 hours 12 minutes. 

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Since then, better training, nutrition and new carbon shoes have propelled runners to new records, none more than Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, who set the world on fire running a sub-2-hour marathon under controlled conditions and held the world record till his compatriot Kelvin Kiptum bettered it with 2 hours and 35 seconds at the Chicago Marathon in October 2023. Of the current lot of Indian runners, Thonakal Gopi, an Olympian and past winner of the Tata Mumbai Marathon, is the fastest with a personal best of 2:13:39 achieved in Seoul in 2022.

At the 20th Tata Mumbai Marathon on Sunday, while 60,000 runners raced through the city chasing personal records, Indian athletes couldn’t improve on the 1978 record. Sunday’s conditions were not ideal for a fast race but international athletes easily ran faster times than the Indian national record; The Indian athletes came nowhere close to it. While the men’s race was won by Eritrea’s Berhane Tesfay in 2:11:44, Kenya’s Joyce Chepkemoi Tele won the women’s title in 2:24:56. The fastest Indian man was Anish Thapa with a time of 2:17:23, and Thakor Nirmaben retained her Tata Mumbai Marathon title completing the race in 2:50:06. 

ADVANCED TRAINING NEEDED

“One of the primary reasons the 1978 marathon record still stands is the lack of consistent investment in long-term development programs specifically tailored for marathon training," says Gopi, who was third on Sunday finishing in 2:19. India has had sporadic successes, such as three runners, including Gopi, running for India at the Rio Olympics 2016. What it requires is a sustained, structured approach to nurturing marathon talent, similar to what we see in nations dominating the sport. This structure is still evolving in India, and there is also a need for specialised training environments that replicate the conditions where top records are broken, adds Gopi. 

Indian athletes today have a lot more access to advanced training methods, sports science and nutrition, but only a handful of athletes can access these, say long distance runners. Elite athletes have benefitted from these advancements and have shown remarkable improvements, admits Gopi. “Indian men have shown progress, particularly in shorter distances like the half marathon, as seen with Avinash Sable’s record," he points out. 

The marathon, however, is a different beast requiring years of specialised preparation, strategy, and endurance conditioning, say elite coaches and athletes. “One challenge is the lack of consistent exposure to high-level international marathons, which offer competitive environments essential for pushing personal limits. There’s also the aspect of race strategy and pacing, which can only be honed through regular participation in such events. Additionally, the support system around marathon runners, including coaching, recovery, and medical support, needs to evolve further to match global standards," notes Gopi.

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A marathon requires tremendous training over a period of time, says Vijayraghavan Venugopal, co-founder and CEO of Fast n Up, and a sub-3 hour marathoner who has trained in Iten, Kenya, with some of the fastest runners in the world. 

“Japan probably has more than 100 active runners going under 2.10. A country like India should have 100-plus runners running under 2.20 hours and training together. In India, marathon is still a very individual pursuit. There is a lot of mental and financial support involved since marathons cannot be run every other month. A good attempt can only be done say three times a year," says Venugopal, who finds the training methods in India a bit outdated. The amateur runners’ training philosophy is far better than elites in marathons, he opines. “There is so much to learn from the Kenyans or Americans when it comes to marathons, but I feel at the elite level we just attribute it to more competitions and financial support. This, unfortunately, is not true."

Sawan Barwal, the second fastest half-marathoner in the country, agrees with Gopi that he and his teammates need to run with athletes better than them, who can push them to improve. “Here, we run, train and race among ourselves. We know what the other boys are capable of and we know what we need to do, as a result, we don’t need to push ourselves too much," he explains. This attitude, he says, changes the minute you are training and running with those who are faster. 

TRAIN WITH CHAMPIONS

England’s multiple Olympics medal-winning athlete Mo Farah says running under 2:12 is achievable but takes time and patience. “While training, I was watching the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes running really well. I asked them how I could be as good as them? They asked me to train with them at their training camp in Kenya. I went to Kenya and trained with them, learning and observing what they did," says Farah. He believes that Indian runners too should eat-sleep-train with faster athletes. He elaborates, “Train with other athletes. Learn and build up the miles,  build up your endurance, and then, once you do that set yourself a target. Focus on training and progressing each year, getting stronger in terms of doing longer intervals. If you can build a good group of people to train together with and help each other, you can get through." 

Gopi believes India’s current crop of runners, such as Avinash Sable, are narrowing the gap. “The talent is there; it's about refining the approach and providing the necessary resources and opportunities to bridge that final gap," he says. And, bridging that gap is important as even the women’s records have tumbled with the current world record of 2:09:56 set by Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich in October 2024. While chasing targets and focussing on training is important, Farah says it is just as important to enjoy the journey. “You can't achieve it overnight but over time you can. So, keep learning. Most importantly, believe in yourself and just try and put in as much as you can," advises Farah.

Shrenik Avlani is a writer and editor and the co-author of The Shivfit Way, a book on functional fitness.

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