Mumbai, Aug. 18 -- Three decades into his triple jump world record of 18.29m from the 1995 World Championships, Jonathan Edwards had this to say to BBC this month about it remaining untouched: "I don't think it's a good sign for athletics as a sport that you have a record that stands for 30 years." Every word of that sentence could also well apply to the men's marathon national record in India. Except, that mark goes much further back. The late Shivnath Singh's marathon national record of 2:12:00 set in 1978 in Jalandhar still stands the test of time. As per Athletics Federation of India (AFI) data, it remains the longest standing national mark, with PT Usha's 400m hurdles record of 1984 also equalled in 2023. Two of the country's prominent marathon races, in Mumbai and New Delhi, had Indian winners clock timings around the 2:17 and 2:15 mark. It's pretty much where India's male marathoners have been stuck over the last five years, after Gopi T came close to the national mark when he clocked 2:13:39 at the 2019 Seoul Marathon. In an event where global runners are constantly pushing the threshold - Kelvin Kiptum set the current world record of 2:00:35 in 2023 before his untimely death aged 24 - the Indians have stagnated for quite a while. "For almost a decade, Indian marathon has been stuck in a loop - one that hovers around the 2:15 mark," said Nitendra Singh Rawat, the 2016 Rio Olympian with a personal best of 2:16:05. A glaring ailment to that loop not breaking for a bigger leap, concur athletes and coaches, is the lack of a core group of marathoners training together. Surinder Singh Bhandari, India's renowned distance runner turned coach, recalled having a group of 10-12 runners training just under him between 2014 to 2016. Three of them - Gopi, Kheta Ram and Rawat - qualified for Rio 2016 where the first two clocked PBs in the 2:15s. For last year's Paris Olympics, no Indian marathoner made the cut. This year, AFI added to the decentralisation by doing away with long-duration national camps. "Nowadays, marathoners are scattered. And camps have also been done away with. For long distances, training in one place under one coach with a proper group helps," said Bhandari. "When the three of us trained together, we pushed each other," said Kheta (PB 2:15:26). "Now most train on their own." Rawat said: "Ideally, 10-12 runners should be identified, supported and clubbed into a group to train together. The focus should be on a group, rather than individuals." That group, according to both Olympic marathoners, would also benefit from a lengthy training block outside India. Both cited the example of Gulveer Singh, who rewrote the 5,000m and 10,000m national records last year, training in USA's Colorado Springs where India's other distance runners including Avinash Sable were also based. "We used to have weekly practice plans. Maybe in a country with better marathoners, they make monthly programmes. We need to go out and understand such things," said Kheta. AFI has, over the last few years, sent India's race walkers and relay teams for training blocks abroad. "We need to spend 5-6 months training with runners in the 2:05-2:10 region, no matter the country. We have to observe the training methods and technology advancements of those better groups and countries," Rawat said. Marathoners of those better countries have been aided by advancements in shoes and running equipment, which has not only challenged the world benchmark frequently but also upped qualification standards. At the 2019 Mumbai Marathon, Rawat's timing of 2:15.52 was enough to clear the 2019 World Championships qualifying cut. For next month's Tokyo Worlds, that cut is 2:06:30. The fast-evolving super shoes may have changed the pace of marathon running, yet it hasn't translated to faster times in India. "Shoes have made a big impact overall," said Kheta. "For Indians, they can be expensive. Some can afford it, but even for them it hasn't impacted timings to that extent." "In India," said Bhandari, "athletes can win medals and rewards with a timing of 2:15 or so. And most are happy to be in that comfort zone." It comes back to that loop, where Indian marathon lies in danger of retreating. "We will have to get out of that loop soon," said Rawat....