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India's marathon man: How a joyride hooked Sawan Barwal
An Asian Games silver is not a bad return for an athlete who ran his first competitive marathon only in April in Rotterdam
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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.
Deep Dive
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.
“It was a really nice feeling to have won an Asian Games medal,” he told HT on Saturday after his triumph. “I was very happy when I stood on the podium. It was what I had aimed for.”
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 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, 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 in humid conditions caused by the overnight rain.
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 to celebrate the win.
When he had broken the national record in Rotterdam, Barwal was disappointed in the fact that he could not go past the 2:10 mark he had aimed for. He was still off the mark in Nagoya, but there was no disappointment this time.
“This time the target was to finish on the podium, there was no timing in mind,” said Barwal, who has been supported by the Reliance Foundation. “It was a tactical race with a few inclines on the way, so there was no time target.”
He is, however, well capable of faster finishes.
“He is a 2:09 runner. But in championship races, it's all about the medal,” said his coach Ajit Markose. “This was a slow race (because of the humid conditions and an incline along the route). The goal today was to be in the lead group and not lose contact. Once he was in striking position, after about 35-36km, he was feeling really good about his chances.”
Those chances were courtesy of the three-month high-altitute training stint he had in the United States in preparation for the Asian Games.
“He has been training in Colorado Springs, with Scott Simmons (national coach). That has played a big part in this result,” Markose added. “Colorado Springs has a solid group of marathon and long-distance runners. And also better infrastructure, because in India we don’t have those kinds of trails for high-altitude training. Having a really good group to train with has helped him.”
The 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi was the last time an Indian had won a medal in the marathon, when HK Seetharama 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, 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.
