BELGRAVE HARRIERS

Of course, 1960 was also Olympic year. Ranjit hadn’t really thought about trying to gain Olympic selection, but at the end of April, on two successive days, he astounded his friends and rivals alike by running 4:08.7 to set a Club Record for the mile and then 13:57.6 to narrowly miss the 3 miles record. The Universities Athletic Union 3 miles title fell to him in a new Championship best of 13:56 at Nottingham. He then ran 13:57 in the Inter-Counties Championships and was runner-up in the Kinnaird Trophy. In the form of his life, Ranjit ran 14:12 or under on thirteen consecutive occasions during the next few months, sometimes racing twice a week.

 

As the fastest Asian runner over one mile, a place on India’s team for the Rome Olympics became a possibility. Initial enquiries resulted in the news that the team had already been selected but Belgrave’s half-miler Bob Taylor had the idea of approaching another Belgravian, Les Cohen, who wielded considerable influence in the higher echelons of athletics; perhaps he could offer some advice. Les got in touch with the Indian Olympic Committee, and not only was Ranjit soon notified that he had been selected for the 5,000 metres, he was told that there was a spare spot in the 10,000 metres as well. The Club 6 miles Championship was coming up and Ranjit decided to have a crack at it to see how he would go. Charlie Dabbs, Malcolm Robinson and Ranjit agreed to share the pace on the Battersea cinders and the result was that for 1960 the name of R. Bhatia would be engraved on the Tom Carter Trophy, time 29:50.4 – a Championship Record. Ranjit’s main concern after the race seemed to be to apologise to his colleagues for not running fast enough during his stints at the front.

 

Unfortunately, along with all of the distance runners from the British Isles, Ranjit’s races in Rome were not what had been hoped for; the extreme humidity was often cited for the below par performances. He placed 11th in the second heat of the 5,000 metres, just outside 15 minutes, and didn’t take up his 10,000 metres slot, opting instead for the marathon where he placed 60th in 2 hrs. 57 mins. 6 secs. That marathon was a pivotal event for distance running as the barefooted Abebe Bikila became the first African to break an athletics World Record and the first sub-Saharan African Olympic gold medallist.

 

Sadly, it was now time for Belgrave Harriers to say goodbye to Ranjit, but at the Club’s AGM he was unanimously elected a Vice-President, honouring him not only for his athletic prowess but for his modesty and love for Belgrave.

 

Ranjit took up a post at St Stephen’s College, Delhi, teaching mathematics, and he remained with the college until his retirement as Reader. He was very highly regarded in athletic and scholarly circles for the rest of his life. In 1963 he became Indian 1,500 metres Champion and for many years afterwards he was noted as the man who, after a day at college, would drop off the bus on his way home to run at the National Stadium before completing his journey. A handy bag was usually slung on his shoulder, in which he would carry a pair of brown canvas running shoes and shorts, and a copy of ‘Runners World’. The Sunday morning Otto Peltzer road races of those days were incomplete without this soft-spoken scholar-sportsman taking part.  

 

The legendary Indian 400 metre runner Milka Singh recalled him as “the perfect gentleman.” Sriam Singh, one-time Asian 800 metre record holder said that Ranjit was fondly known as “Bhatia sahib … always there to help any athlete.”  At the Munich Olympics Sriram had run a fine 800 metres but the scoreboard only showed a very poor time: “Bhatia sahib protested on my behalf and it was found that a pigeon was stuck in the electronic wires of the board causing the machine to malfunction. Later the organisers corrected my timings.”

 

As well as teaching, Ranjit wrote regularly on Athletics for Indian and overseas newspapers and magazines, including ‘Athletics Weekly’. He covered seven Olympic Games for different Indian newspapers. Ranjit also authored several books including the ‘Handbook of Indian Athletics’ and the ‘Book of Asian Games’. He was an active member of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians, a national-level selector for Indian athletics between 1976 and 1984, and an administrator for the Indian chapter of the Rhodes Scholarships from 1962 until his retirement in 1997. In recognition of his services to the Rhodes Trust and athletics, the British Government awarded Ranjit Bhatia the O.B.E. 

 

Ranjit died in New Delhi on 9 February, aged 77.