BigFoot Backyard Ultra — Chandigarh

Twenty-seven started in Chandigarh, and the man left standing was one of India’s finest: Sunil Sharma, the national men’s backyard record holder at 52 yards from the World Team Championship. On home soil he closed it out at 21, one clear of Alok Kumar Sahu’s 20.

It is a particular kind of pressure to be the runner everyone expects to still be moving when the field thins — and Sunil answered every bell that mattered. Alok’s 20 yards were the wall he had to climb over, the assist that made the win a win.

A national-team engine, a regional start line, the same six-and-a-half-kilometre loop as everyone else.