Last year when Haile Gebrselassie opted out of the marathon at the Beijing Olympics, it was not part of the general hysteria that had preceded the Games about the city’s air quality, anxiety that soon enough evaporated in a run of blue-sky days. The Ethiopian — among the best athletes of all time, certainly the best long-distance runner — was concerned that the air could aggravate his asthma, and inflict long-term damage. But just soon after the Games, he affirmed his dominance of the distance by setting another world record at the Berlin Marathon. With that Gebrselassie, who had set alight the 5000 m and 10,000 m races in earlier Olympics so that they are still seen to be his events even though he now trails the medal contenders, showed how the marathon is such an urban sport.

Berlin is part of the World Marathon Majors, along with New York City, Boston, Chicago and London. And it is on the 42 km stretches in cities such as these that Gebrselassie has asserted his ownership of the distance. So, even as Delhi takes baby steps to get itself on some running calendar — with a half-marathon — it is interesting to see how cities attain identification with a sport. (It is all the more interesting, of course, at a time when Delhi is racing to meet the deadline to complete preparations for the Commonwealth Games.) The World Marathon Majors have managed their prominence with interesting trails, great performers and performances, and dashes of self-mythologising. These runs are made memorable equally by the greats who test their reputations on them and by the tens of thousands of local residents and visitors who measure themselves against diverse personal standards.

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