India's marathon men

Two Indian runners recently finished all six major global marathons in a single calendar year. This is how they did it

- Arun Janardhan

On 3 November, Bharatkumar Jain became possibly the first Indian to run all six Marathon Majors—Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York—in a single calendar year to earn the Abbott World Marathon Majors’ six-star medal. Another Indian trailed him by about 4 minutes in New York as Vishwas Patil, a US-based techie from Satara, Maharashtra, also achieved the feat of all six in a single year.

While several Indians have done all six before, Jain and Patil are possibly the first to run them in a single calendar year, according to the data available on Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM).

Many runners from around the world achieve all six in a year. But for an Indian runner, with logistical and financial challenges, unfamiliar weather and entry obstacles, the difficulties add up.