Kathmandu, August 27 ProSports has rescheduled the dates of the 13th Kathmandu Marathon for December 21 to help in the promotion of Visit Nepal 2020, the organisers announced at a press meet today. “We usually organise the event in October but this time around we had rescheduled the event for December 7. As the date clashed with 13th South Asian Games, we were forced to shift the event to December 21,” said ProSports Chairman Nilendra Raj Shrestha. “We initially rescheduled the event for December 7 upon request from tourism sector authorities as they wanted to promote Visit Nepal 2020 through Kathmandu Marathon,” said Shrestha, who is also the President of Nepal Triathlon Association.“We are happy to get the support from tourism sector by organising the event in the wake of Visit Nepal 2020,” he added. Shrestha said the 13th edition would be a different one and participated in by huge number of foreigners. “We have a strong team to conduct the event and we are also using our channels for more participants from other countries,” he said. The organisers are expecting around 5,000 participants including 250 athletes from abroad. “And for the first time, we are also trying to coordinate with Bhaktapur, Lalitpur and Kathmandu Metropolitan City.” ProSports also signed the memorandum of understanding with Dragon Air as the airlines partner. Shrestha and Country Lead of Dragon Air Junu Malekhu exchanged the papers at the programme.“We decided to support the event as it will be helpful in raising awareness about health among the people. And the aim of tourism promotion is the other reason for our association with the Kathmandu Marathon,” said Malekhu. As one of the sponsors of the event, Dragon Air will provide the organisers with air tickets worth one million rupees. “We are not into it just for mileage and marketing,” said Malekhu. “We believe the organisers will use these tickets for athletes as well,” she added. ProSports also announced eSewa and Dining Park as partners of the event. HR Manager of Dining Park thanked the organisers for providing them with the opportunity to serve the athletes, while eSewa’s Arun Phuyal said they wanted to work together to promote sports and tourism. Defending women’s marathon champion Kanchhi Maya Koju urged the organisers to put more efforts on the safety of the athletes.“We are lagging behind in the most important aspect of the event and I would like to request the organisers to focus on the safety of the athletes during the event,” said Koju. “Everybody focuses on the leading pack and the athletes who fall behind do not get proper care,” she added. Meanwhile, former President of Nepal Athletics Association Raghu Raj Onta announced cash incentives for the record breaking athletes. “I will reward the athlete with Rs 1,000 per second if any one breaks the mark of two hours, 20 minutes and 40 seconds. And I will give Rs 200,000 if any athlete breaks the national record,” announced Onta. Legendary athlete Baikuntha Manandhar holds the national record of 2:15:03, set in the 1987 South Asian Federation Games in Kolkata, India.