On mile 20, Capt. Kanwar Singh got a cramp.
It was the seventh time Singh, the battalion signal officer for the 3-126th Aviation Battalion of the Massachusetts National Guard, had marched the Boston Marathon. He arrived at the starting line on Monday, April 21 with 42 of his fellow soldiers and airmen, dressed in his OCPs.
He placed first in 2024. His leadership was a beacon for the other participants in the uniformed category. And now, six miles from the finish, just beyond the end of the crippling Heartbreak Hills section of the course, he was cramping.
“In that moment, I took a pause,” Singh said. “I thought, You know what? I can do this. You’ve got to keep persisting.” Singh reflected on the fact that the race was happening on Patriots’ Day, the holiday commemorating the beginning of the American Revolution. “There’s no way I was going to quit on such a remarkable occasion.”
So Singh pulled to the side. He took a drink. He stretched. And then he regrouped to finish third in his category, setting a personal record in the process.
“The courage to persist matters more than success or failure,” he said.
It’s a motto Singh uses in his civilian career as the CEO of Skyline Nav AI, a company developing GPS-independent navigation systems. He commissioned in the Massachusetts National Guard in 2018 after a long-fought legal battle with the Army to allow Sikhs to serve without needing to shave their beards, cut their hair or remove their turbans. He is no stranger to perseverance.
Sing first heard about the Massachusetts National Guard’s involvement with the Boston Marathon when he was still in Officer Candidate School in 2018. The Guard provides security for the race, and in return the Boston Athletic Association allots them a small portion of the 20,000 to 30,000 bibs issued to participants every year.
“I thought it would be a fun experience, not knowing what I was getting myself into,” Singh said, laughing. “I was grossly unprepared. The weather was really bad that year, too. I think I was in bed for three days afterwards. But I did cross the finish line.”
He saw that crippling first march as a learning experience, and after the marathon in 2020 was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he vowed to march the race every year from then on.
Placing first in 2024 was a personal triumph, but unlike the first year, he didn’t have the chance to slow down and recover. The next day, he was traveling to Washington, D.C., for client meetings.
“I was literally walking in the airport in slippers because my feet were swollen,” he said. “I was in so much pain and not able to walk properly, and then I had to do a presentation.”
Singh explained to the clients that he was wobbling because he had just finished the Boston Marathon and proudly showed them his medal.
Lt. Col. Ed Novak, the guardsman who finished 12 minutes ahead of Singh to place first in the uniformed category this year, said Singh’s camaraderie motivated him to set a strong pace.
“I wanted to keep up with him because I know he always crushes it every year,” said Novak. “He’s fantastic. He deserves all the credit.”
Singh capped off the race by doing 22 push-ups at the finish line in honor of the 22 American veterans that reportedly die by suicide every day.
“It was hard for me to serve,” Singh said. “And entrepreneurship is hard. But I always remind folks of my journey in hopes that it inspires them to keep going.”
Find a complete list of Boston Marathon finishers and more on the Boston Athletic Association’s website.
