New Delhi, Dec. 20 -- Few chief executive officers (CEOs) choose a mine over a city street for their first full marathon. Fewer, in fact, have run more than a kilometre underground in a dimly lit zinc mine in Sweden, in humid conditions and visibility limited to a narrow tunnel of light. Yet that is where Hindustan Zinc's CEO, Arun Misra, spent more than six hours in late October, running what the Guinness World Records confirms is the World's Deepest Marathon.

Misra, 59 years old, was one of 55 participants from 18 countries. For him, the decision to run came after Hindustan Zinc became a member of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), a grouping of global mining companies committed to responsible practices. When ICMM d...