Kathmandu, January 16 Leisure Port is organising the second edition of the Pinkathon Kathmandu on February 24. The event will feature half marathon, 10km, 5km and 3km races for women, informed Namraj Joshi, Proprietor of Leisure Port — a travel and entertainment agency — at a press meet today. Top three athletes in half marathon will get Rs 60,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000, while the winners in 10km race will take home Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Other catagery winners will receive gift hampers. “We successfully organised the first edition and we want to make it much bigger and better this time around with more participants,” said Joshi, who expected more than 11,000 participants in the one-day event. Around 3,000 participants had taken part in the first edition of the event, in which Nepal APF Club athlete Kanchhi Maya Koju set a new national record in half marathon with the timing of one hour, 18 minutes and 28 seconds. Pinkathon was founded by former Indian swimmer, model, actor, film producer and fitness promoter Milind Soman and Managing Director of Maximus Mice and Media Solution Reema Sanghavi with the aim of empowering women through health awareness. Pinkathon, which was held in Mumbai for the first in 2012, is the biggest women’s running event in India and is organised annually in eight cities. Meanwhile, Soman said the purpose of the event is to bring in women who never exercise and take care about their health. “Through the Pinkathon we encourage women to adopt health and fitness in their daily lifestyle by means of running,” said Soman, who won silver medal in swimming for India during the inaugural edition of the South Asian Federation Games in 1984 in Kathmandu. Similarly, Miss Universe Nepal 2017, Nagma Shrestha praised the event. “I like the idea of raising awareness about the breast cancer and women’s health through such events,” said Shrestha.