In praise of the four-not-also-rans

The phrase ‘It’s not the winning but the taking part that counts’ was invented by someone used to losing. The theory that participation is superior to winning was once again quietly propagated last Sunday when we were made to focus on the 2015 Delhi Half Marathon’s decent turnout (“more than 13,000 runners,” according to the organisers, “more than 30,000,” according to the Press Trust of India), that morning’s high pollution level, and the ‘fun of running’. Well, we are not falling for that. Instead, we’re sticking to applauding the winners of the 21.097-km race.

Ethiopian runner Birhanu Legese was the fastest human in Delhi clocking just under an hour at 59 min 20 sec. He should jog things up for world record holder Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea at the World Championship in Cardiff in March 2016, who came in third in Delhi (00:59:24). Among the women, Kenyan Cynthia Limo made a dash from the pack only 100 m away from the finishing tape coming in at 01:08:35. Nitendra Singh Rawat was the quickest among men Indian men (01:04:41) and India’s World Steeplechase finalist and Asian champion Lalita Babbar among the women (01:10:52). More power to them to become not just ‘Indian’ category winners but winners. For all other participants, be content in being counted.