Kathmandu, October 6:

Rewat Bahadur Dahal won the Springwood NRN Kathmandu International Marathon with the timing of 2:33.32 today.

Dahal was behind his fellow Tribhuvan Army Club (TAC) runner Uttam Khatri until the final 400 metres but his sprint at the last 200 metres gave him the winner’s cheque of $10,000 and additional Rs 100,000. The organisers, Nepal Marathon Pvt Ltd, had announced the additional prize money for the best Nepali marathoner.

Khatri competed the race in 2:33.44 followed by Armyman Narayan Deshar (2:45.39). Amar Bahadur Shahi, Hom Lal Shrestha, Chhiring Lama, Hari Kumar Rimal, Purna Bahadur Devkota, Mahendra Maharjan and Raj Kumar Khatri rounded up the top 10.

Hari Devi Rajlawat was lucky to win women’s event despite finishing more than 36 minutes behind Krisheswori Sintakala, who was disqualified. Rajlawat timed 4:01.10 to win $5,000 and additional Rs 50,000. Winner of the Everest Marathon Nima Yangdi Sherpa came second in 4:06.45 ahead of Keshari Thapa of TAC (4:08.42). Lakpa Diki Sherpa, Sunita Maharjan and Nina Britz of Germany came fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Arjun Basnet of TAC and Chhaya Khatri of Nepal Police won the half marathon.

Arjun, the 10th SA Games marathon silver medallist, opted for the half marathon due to his commitment for the Italian Road Race. Arjun timed 1:09.42 followed by Armymen Ananda Man Shrestha (1:12.52) and Gagan Singh Budhayer (1:13.18).

Chhaya won half marathon in 1:34.39 ahead of Bhawana Shahi (1:36.29) and Bindra Shrestha (1:43.21) and bagged $3,000 for her effort. Brazilian Rosenberg came fourth.

Nepal Telecom won the $2,000 Business Relay Marathon followed by Bhairav Brick Factory and Home computer Pvt Ltd. The second and third teams bagged $1,000 and $5,00 respectively.

Letter Singh Khatri (men’s) and national taekwondo player Abina Rai (women’s) won the 5km event participated in by around 5,000 runners. Runners in the event included celebrities like Haribansha Acharya and Madan Krishna Shrestha. Letter Singh timed 17 minutes, 1.73 seconds while Bhumi Raj Rai and Asta Narayan Chaudhary finished second and third. Abina completed the race in 21 minutes, 45.10 seconds ahead of Sabitri GC and Sabita Shahi.

Raj Kumar Bista won the 10km men’s event followed by Laxman Malla and Nawaraj Basnet. Surya Maya Rai of Armed Police Force claimed the women’s 10km race. Sita Rimal of Nuwakot and Dhana Maya Ghale of TAC completed the top three.

Sintakala deprived of deserved gold:

KATHMANDU: Pushing yourself to the limits is what it meant by completing a marathon. Krishneswori Sintakala did just that when she completed the women’s 42.195km race in 3:22.42, way ahead of Hari Devi Rajlawat (4:1.09).

Her joy, however, was short-lived when she learnt that she was disqualified. The poor management led to her disqualification after missing the route at the New Road checkpoint due to the absence of volunteers.

Convenor of the organising committee Nilendra Raj Shrestha accepted the lapses that led to the incident. “The volunteers let me down,” said Shrestha. The mismanagement was such that athletes were seen running through heavy traffic, some on wrong routes and some were even found joining the pack midway in the short distance races. — HNS