Himachal Pradesh’s Sawan Barwal on Sunday scripted history by breaking the 48-year-old marathon national record, the longest standing mark in Indian athletics, at the NN Marathon Rotterdam. Barwal clocked 2 hours 11 minutes and 58 seconds in a world class field to finish 20th in the elite marathon race and erase the previous national record of 2:12:00 which stood since 1978 in Shivnath Singh's name. The other Indian in the fray, Gopi Thonakal finished 23rd as he ran the 42.195km distance with a time of 2:13:16. Barwal's achievement was all the more praiseworthy as the Rotterdam event was his first marathon race. He had not run any official marathon race before Sunday.

This was his second competition of the season after taking part in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in the USA in January. Hailing from a village in Joginder Nagar in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, the 28-year-old Barwal has trained hard for many years, establishing himself as a reputed long-distance runner. His feat on Sunday was the culmination of that hard work, as he literally emerged from the hills of Himachal Pradesh to the flat roads of Rotterdam. Barwal ran at a steady pace in the gruelling race but windy conditions in the last 5km took a toll on the Indian runner. "It was pretty cold and windy. I made a mistake of pouring water on my head at the water station," Barwal said. "I was running at a comfortable pace until the 37km mark. But the last 2km was more challenging as I had to just plod to cross the finish line.