Rawat sets sights on national record

The first time Nitendra Singh Rawat ran a full marathon, he earned the qualifying norm for the Rio Olympic Games. A different challenge awaits him at the World 10K on Sunday, the challenge of hitting the right pace in a shorter race.

Rawat, hailing from Uttarakhand, hit the forefront of India’s road race scene last year when he timed two hours, 18 minutes and six seconds at the World Military Games in South Korea in October.

The International Association of Athletics Federations then revised the qualifying norm to two hours 19 minutes from the earlier two hours 17 minutes, instantly giving Rawat a time good enough to run in Rio. He has since then brought down his best to 2 hours 15 minutes and 48 seconds at the Mumbai Marathon in January and with just a little over two months left for the Games, is bracing for the event with keen anticipation.

“I am really looking forward to the Games,” said Rawat, a Army Havaldar in the 6th Kumaon Regiment. Posted in Kashmir, he was in the background of a different battle but his running skills have taken him to a different plane.

“I feel proud to represent the country in Rio. I feel I am on a mission, to do well for the country,” said Rawat who only started preparing for marathons last July. “I used to run 5000 metre races and cross country earlier but realised that I could only reach Asian level in those races. Then I decided to make the move to marathon and have been training under Surendra Singh Bhandari for the longer distance. Now I enjoy road races more,” he said.

Rawat, son of a farmer in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand, felt his strength comes from the constant battle with rugged terrains in his younger days. “We have to walk 5-6 kilometres to school daily in hilly areas, that perhaps helped me,”  said Rawat, who felt he could improve his timing further.

“Our national record (Shivnath Singh’s 2:12:00, set in 1978) is within my reach. I am working hard towards it,” he said.

Surendra Singh, the national record holder in the 10000M, has high hopes from Rawat. “He is a strong boy. He will do well.” On Sunday, though Rawat will face a stiff test from G Lakshmanan, India’s master of the 10000M these days.

 “Lakshmanan has the speed over the shorter distance and that is an advantage,” said Surendra on the man who will be making his 10K debut.