New Delhi, Oct. 12 -- The lead up to the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon has been all about whether the elite men's course record of 58 minutes and 53 seconds can be broken after five years. The runners get a good setting to do that. The onset of early winter and low pollution level will allow them to go all out on a flat course known to produce fast timings. Though the men's field is not as star-studded as last year's, won by twice Olympic medallist Joshua Cheptegei, Ethiopia's Birhanu Legese and Kenya's Paris Marathon winner Benard Biwott (PB 59:44) say they are up for the challenge. Another Kenyan Alex Matata is coming off a good season, having won four half marathons with a personal best (PB) of 59:20 in February. Birhanu knows the course very well, having won in 2015 and 2017. Birhanu's PB is 58:59, which came in 2023. His best in Delhi came in 2015 (59:20). He says the weather looks good to have a crack at the record and that he will push through at the right moment. It would also have been a good opportunity for Gulveer Singh, who has had an outstanding season in which he shattered the 5,000m and 10,000m national records. He could have had a crack at the Indian record that stands in the name of Asian Games steeplechase champion Avinash Sable, who set the mark in 2020 (1:00:30). However, it has been learnt that Gulveer withdrew on Saturday because of "severe lower back pain"....