Just as 41-year-old Danish Elahi was running his final stretch of the New York City Marathon earlier this month, he heard his sister call out to him from the sidelines. He quickly turned and spotted his father holding the Pakistani flag. He ran up to him, gave him a quick hug and looked absolutely elated as he continued running to the finish line. His father was emotional and teary eyed.

Finishing a marathon is no mean feat — running 42.195km in good time takes months, if not years, of training and a lot of mental fortitude to push through with it. And with a time of three hours and 26 minutes, Elahi was the fastest runner from the running community based in Pakistan to complete the NYC Marathon.

“To hug my dad before finishing meant the world to me,” Elahi says over the phone, his voice cracking with emotion. “Meray paisay wasool ho gaye thay [I was totally satisfied]. That emotion is going to stay with me. Your heart swells. Being [one of] the fastest Pakistanis meant more for my parents than me. And that meant a lot more.”

An American-Pakistani based in the United States, Syed Ali Hamza, who registered in the Pakistan category, finished his marathon in two hours and 41 minutes.

Many Pakistanis are running in and making their mark in international marathons. The New York City and Istanbul marathons, which both took place on November 3, were the latest evidence of it

Over 40 Pakistanis, based in Pakistan and from the diaspora abroad, participated in the NYC Marathon — the largest number yet. This also included the likes of local running superstar Kaukab Sarwar, the race director of the upcoming Karachi Marathon; Shoaib Nizami, who was the title flag bearer for Pakistan at the Parade of Nations (a pre-race tradition); and mountaineers Anum Uzair and Ahmed Uzair Basraa.

For both Sarwar and Nizami, this was their fourth Majors marathon, for Basraa it was his second and for Uzair it was her first. Meanwhile, Elahi now only has one Majors marathon left to get his six-star marathon medal — indicating that he’s finished all six of the Abbott World Marathon Majors.

What makes the NYC Marathon so special?

“This is one of the six marathons inducted as an Abbott World Marathon Majors. Actually, there are now seven Majors — just this month, they have added the Sydney marathon to their list,” says Faisal Shafi, who has completed over 10 marathons in just under a decade and is one of the few in the world who is a proud recipient of a six-star medal.

“New York is the hardest Major to get into,” he relates. “By the hardest, I mean there is a ballot entry, which only has between 5,000 to 7,000 spots available for the 800,000 to one million people that actually apply for those spots. When they don’t get through ballots, they will go through tour operators, or will be running to raise funds for a charity.

“New York is a beautiful marathon — around 57,000 people participate in it,” he continues. “It’s also one of the most difficult to run. Imagine, you’re running from Staten Island all the way to Central Park. As a runner, it’s one of the most prestigious running events to be a part of.”

For Kaukab Sarwar, one of the most consistent and regular female runners from the local recreational running scene, this was an experience of a lifetime.

“I had always heard NYC is one of the toughest courses for a World Majors, and I experienced that too,” she says. “It’s all a hilly course. However, the crowd of New York makes it special.” she says, adding that the crowd roots enthusiastically for you all the way to the finish line which, “keeps you going and going till the very end.”

But New York is not the only place Pakistani runners are making their mark. On the same day as the NYC Marathon was the Istanbul Marathon in Turkey. A large group of Pakistanis not only participated in this event, but one of them came out among the top runners worldwide.

Amjad Ali was Pakistan’s top finisher at the Istanbul Marathon. He completed the course in a stunning two hours and 49 minutes, also making him the 47th person overall in the world. It must be noted that, this year, the Istanbul Marathon saw a record number of participants — over 40,000. To be placed 47th in a marathon with tens of thousands of runners is absolutely incredible.

For 40-year-old long-time runner Ali Khurshid, participating in the Istanbul Marathon was a decision grounded in practicality. “I needed a marathon to participate in for all of the training that I was doing,” he says.

“The Istanbul marathon is a very accessible marathon. It’s not that much of a flight [to get to it] and the registration cost is more reasonable, as compared to the other marathons in the world. After you train so much, you really, really need a race to apply all of this training to. Otherwise it’ll all go to waste.”

This was his second attempt. His first was in 2022, with a finishing time of four hours and 44 minutes. This year, he finished in an impressive three hours and 44 minutes.

“It’s amazing because of the food, baklava, cats, dogs,” he laughs. “It’s a very, very hard course, however. The finish line is in the sky. It’s a sick joke, that in the final three kilometres you have to run uphill. And it’s a very steep hill as well. But it’s a gold standard race, you can qualify for the Boston Marathon through this.”

Junaid Zafar, an anchor for the news channel Geo, is one of the more high-profile personalities to have participated in the Boston Marathon last year. His participation spotlighted how recreational running is catching on in Pakistan.

For 23-year-old university student Muzammil Khan Niazi, running the Istanbul Marathon in three hours and 13 minutes was a journey of redemption. He had previously completed the marathon in 2022 but in four hours and 12 minutes. It was a solid performance but one he was personally disappointed by.

“I did not know this was a hilly course that had rolling uphills and downhills, which I did not train for,” he says. “I got injured during the race, because I had over-trained from excitement, which led me to walk and jog the last 16 kilometres. That’s when I made that decision that I will come back and have my revenge.”

And he certainly did have it.

“I was in tears and I could not hold my emotions because of the blood, sweat and sacrifices I gave for this,” he says. “My family has played an important role in supporting my journey and this race belongs to them. This was for them!”

The writer is a journalist, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and radio correspondent. She is currently training for the upcoming Karachi Marathon 2025

Published in Dawn, EOS, November 17th, 2024