06 February,2009 08:02 AM IST | | Agencies
India is rising fast in the marathon rankings. The Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth, a relay of marathons for nations, where four runners from each country participate in four marathons across the world the last being the Hong Kong marathon to be run on February 8 has India nudging at the top.
The Indian men are in third place behind Kenya and Uganda, with only Hong Kong left for them to hold on to their position or improve it. There are 23 teams in the fray so India's third place is very creditable.u00a0u00a0u00a0
Last year, the Indian men took sixth place overall so this year sees an improvement by leaps and bounds.
Experts, who have been following the Mumbai marathon since its inception six years ago, are witnessing Indian men shaving off the marathon time by a minute or two every year, as the bar continues to be raised in the event.
The Mumbai marathon saw winner Ram Singh Yadav at 2:18:03, seven minutes behind overall winner Kenyan K Mungara at 2: 11:51. The Kenyans are the best in the world at this event. The Indian marathoners are improving, slowly, surely and give this country reason to be very optimistic about this event.
