India, April 13 -- Long-distance runner Sawan Barwal on Sunday scripted history by breaking the 48-year-old marathon national record, the longest standing mark in Indian athletics, at the NN Marathon Rotterdam.

Barwal clocked 2 hours 11 minutes and 58 seconds in a world class field to finish 20th in the elite marathon race and erase the previous national record of 2:12:00 which stood since 1978 in Shivnath Singh's name.

The other Indian in the fray, Gopi Thonakal finished 23rd as he ran the 42.195km distance with a time of 2:13:16.

Barwal's achievement was all the more praiseworthy as the Rotterdam event was his first marathon race. He had not run any official marathon race before Sunday.

This was his second competition of the season ...