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Meet India's marathon men who completed a unique Grand Slam
Summary
Indian marathon runners Bharatkumar Jain and Vishwas Patil recently became the first Indians to complete the six marathon Majors in one calendar year
When Bharatkumar Jain first decided to do the marathon equivalent of a Grand Slam—the top six of the world’s marathons—he wasn’t chasing a record. He had already registered for three, so he figured he could just attempt the rest and check them off his list.
On Sunday, 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. Another Indian trailed him by about four minutes in New York as Vishwas Patil, a US-based techie from Satara, also achieved the feat. The only difference being that Patil had already got his sixth star—given to those who complete all six majors in a lifetime—in Boston. He is technically four runs down into a second cycle of six-in-a-row.
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While several Indians have got their six stars, none before these two had done them all 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—32 did it in 2023, one in 2022, 20 in 2019, for example. But for an Indian runner, with logistical challenges, visa and travel, unfamiliar weather, entry obstacles and big financial requirements, the difficulties add up.
But both Jain, a 45-year-old businessman from Mumbai who had an angioplasty a few years ago, and Patil, a 50-year-old US-based techie who started running only six years ago, the six-in-a-year came with respectable timings, and as a result of considerable determination.
Jain ran the Tokyo Marathon in 3 hours, 56 minutes 45 seconds on 3 March; Boston in 04:24:01 on 15 April; London in 04:03:30 on 21 April; Berlin in 03:55:47 on 29 September; and Chicago in 03:51:27 on 13 October.
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His timing of 04:09:57 in New York on 3 November was slower than what he was aiming for, having completed Chicago in sub-4 hours just three weeks earlier. “Since Chicago, I got a bit greedy," he says with a laugh over the phone from New York, a day after his run. “The first half was hilly, which drained out all energy. The second half became windy and chilly. For the local runners it was hot, but for us Bombaywallas it was cold."
One of the toughest challenges he faced overall was running in London, less than one week after Boston, which he feared was not enough time for recovery.
“I was anxious how to do back-to-back Boston and London," recollects Jain. “Everyone said you need a month’s gap between marathons. Sometimes you can’t even walk properly for three days after a marathon."
“But before Tokyo, I had a 42kms run in Mumbai in practice. We planned for 35kms, but I felt good, so I ran 42. I recovered from it in decent time. So that gave me confidence," says Jain, who reckons that he has run over 2000kms this year.
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“Boston is the same week as London, for which I had to travel," says Patil, echoing Jain’s concerns. “With this age, in seven days, can I do it—that was my thought. But it was always about trying."
As it turned out, he did one better. Patil ran Boston in 05:21:50 but improved upon it in London with 04:18:46 besides Tokyo in 04:12:19, his best in Berlin with 03:54:33, Chicago in 04:04:15 and New York in 04:14:02.
His achievement is more striking considering he started running only in 2017, competing in his first marathon in 2021 in Charlotte, where he lives. The following year, he had run in Berlin, Chicago, and New York—three in 45 days—and started asking himself why he can’t do all six in six months.
“Everyone discourages you initially," he says over the phone on his way to work at the Bank of America, “saying ‘you are 48-49 years old’. But I always thought let me do this one at a time."
A coach from Bengaluru, Deepa Nayak, helped Patil cut an average of an hour and a half in his timings over three years (Nayak also ran at Tokyo, Chicago and NYC). Jain got advice from Yash Muthiyan, who completed his sixth major in 2022 and encouragement from fellow runner Arun Nayak. Mihira Khopkar, a sports nutritionist at H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai, helped Jain with the diet and supplements he needed for quick recovery. Khopkar also assisted him with travel schedules to take care of jetlag. Bengaluru-based travel company Active Holiday gave both runners last-mile assist in getting entries into the runs.
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There are many ways to enter a Major: direct qualification, paying to enter a lottery, running for a charity by buying a bib from them, or using an authorised travel agency, like Active Holiday. Jain, for instance,got into Chicago and Tokyo via lottery and the Berlin entry was carried forward from last year when he did not run. He enlisted the travel company’s help for Boston and the others.
Jain now wants to do the Ironman in 2026 besides a seventh Major, in Sydney, that’s being introduced next year. Patil’s nextgoal is to qualify for Boston, run in all seven continents, and 54 miles of the Comrades when he turns 54. He takes encouragement from the fact that age is not a factor in long-distance running—50 years and seven months is the average age when a runner completes their first sixth star journey, according to AWMM.
“There is no stopping now," Patil says.
Arun Janardhan is a Mumbai-based journalist who covers sports, business leaders and lifestyle.
