India’s marathon man: How a joyride hooked Sawan Barwal

Around a decade ago, Sawan Barwal and his classmates were asked by their school Physical Education teacher if they wanted to accompany him to the nearby village to watch an athletics meet. They agreed. But not for the joy of watching sport or cheering for their school seniors – even if it included Barwal’s elder brother.

“We were more interested in the bike ride,” he had said to HT in April.

That was Barwal’s first foray into athletics, as the PE teacher made everyone run laps. Coaxed by a joyride, he is now jet-setting around the world.

On Saturday morning Barwal was running around the streets of Nagoya, Japan, for a total of 42.195 km. His run ended inside the Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. In front of cheering spectators. As the first Indian in 44 years to win a medal in the men’s marathon event at the Asian Games, finishing second behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita.

Not bad for an athlete who ran his first competitive marathon only in April in Rotterdam. That run in the Netherlands though turned out to be a historic event for Indian athletics. For years, there have been questions over who could break Shivnath’s Singh’s 48-year-old marathon record.

Barwal answered that question in the first go. He broke Singh’s record of 2:12:00 hrs by two seconds to qualify for the Asian Games. And in Japan, he broke his own record to set the new national mark at 2:11:37 hrs.

From the fifth kilometre to the 30th though, he remained just ahead of the pack, leading the field of 19 competing for the continental crown. It was only after the 35th km mark that the distance between him and Yamashita started to grow. But Barwal held his nerve and battled through the pain that comes with running the distance of a marathon – especially under rainy and humid conditions.

He put every ounce of energy left in him as he entered the athletics stadium for the final few meters, cheered on by fans. As he crossed the finish line, there was a small double-fist pump, but etched on his face was a look of disappointment.

It was an expression not too dissimilar from what he had worn on his face when he had broken Singh’s record in Rotterdam.

“I (couldn’t) shake the feeling of being disappointed,” the 28-year-old had said. “I had gone there looking to do better than 2:10 hrs. Yes, I broke the national record, but what I wanted to do, I did not.”

Once the dust settles, the armyman will once again understand the gravity of what he has achieved.

The 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi was the last time an Indian had won a medal in the marathon, when Hosur Kukkappa Seetarama won bronze. Chhota Singh and Surat Mathur won gold and bronze respectively at the 1951 Games, also held in New Delhi.

Barwal is now the fourth Indian to win a marathon medal at the Asiad, but the first to do it on foreign soil.

The man from Joginder Nagar in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh had once harboured dreams of entering the banking sector. Before he took up athletics though, he had a keen interest in badminton. Then came the dangling carrot that was the motorcycle ride that lured him into athletics.

His journey in distance running started with a fourth-placed finish in an inter-school athletics meet when he was in Class 9, while competing against seniors.

Then he progressed to the inter-district level and started to win medals. In 2013, he competed in the Sub-Junior Nationals for the first time and won bronze in the 3000m race.

The decision, however, to switch from his regular 10,000m event to the marathon came only a year ago. In his mind though, there were still questions over if it was the right decision to make. Rotterdam provided him the answer.

Nagoya, the validation.