After qualifying for Asian Games, Man Singh makes a long and difficult trek to reach his home

Man Singh became the third fastest marathon runner in India after clocking 2:14.13 two weeks ago in New Delhi to qualify for the Asian Games.

On the final Sunday of February, Man Singh finally found his moment in the Sun. At the age of 33, he completed the New Delhi marathon in 2 hours, 14 minutes and 13 seconds. Along with fellow army runners, Appachangada Belliappa (2:14.15) and Karthik Kumar (2:14.19), all three men ran faster than the Asian Games qualifying standard of 2:15.00 that was set by the Athletics Federation of India.

As a result, all three secured qualification to the Asian Games, to be held later this year.

In fact, the army 1-2-3 finish was also one of the fastest marathons by Indian runners. Singh is now the third fastest-ever, after Shivnath Singh’s four-decade old national record of 2:12.00 and Olympian Thanackal Gopi’s 2:13:39.

It was a special day in the life of Man Singh who won a marathon for the very first time in his life. It was also only his second gold medal in distance running events at the national level after competing for seven years.

Singh is a 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres specialist who ran in the shadow of Govindan Lakshmanan, the winner of the double gold at the 2017 Asian Championships.

“I won the gold in the 5,000 metres at the South Asian Games in 2016. That was my last major gold. But at the South Asian Games Lakshmanan didn’t participate in the event. I also had to compete against Gopi. Most of the time I was second or third in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres,” Singh said.

The very next day after winning the marathon, Singh decided to travel back home. He boarded a state bus from New Delhi that took seven hours to reach Pithoragarh. From there, he took a shared taxi to Lumti where his sister stays and thought of breaking the journey. Singh then trekked uphill with a heavy army bag on his shoulders in order to get to Kumariyagair village in Bangapani tehsil.

“It will take me almost three hours to cover the 10 kilometres. Most of it is through a forest area. Almost as tough as running a marathon,” Singh jested.

The backpack will be a little heavier too as Singh is carrying sweets to celebrate his New Delhi Marathon win. “In our village, the first choice of career for men is the Indian army. There are many others who are in the army. But I am the first national-level athlete and first marathon runner from Kumariyagair,” Singh, a naib subedar, said.

When he first started out in long distance running events, Singh hoped to finish on the podium at national events. However, he found success hard to achieve in the 5,000 and 10,000m races. That is when he decided to take up marathon.

Man Singh’s aspirations have only grown since then as wonderful performances in the recent Mumbai and Delhi marathons have put him on the national map and he now dreams of a medal at this year’s Asian Games.

“Now, I have the belief that I can compete with the best in India and Asia in the marathon. I wanted to be the best in the 5,000m and the 10,000m. That didn’t happen. So maybe the marathon is the event in which I can fulfil my potential.”