Kathmandu, February 24

Nepal APF Club's Kanchhi Maya Koju set new national record on her way to winning the half marathon gold medal in the Pinkathon Kathmandu here at the Dasharath Stadium today.

Koju clocked one hour, 18 minutes and 28 seconds to complete the 21.098km distance breaking the previous best mark of 1:18:46 set by Nirmala Bharati in the Berlin Marathon in 2006. This was Koju's seventh title in four months since winning the half marathon crown in Nepalgunj Peace Marathon. She then bagged 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals in the seventh National Games in December apart from the Kathmandu Marathon, Darjeeling Half Marathon and Kantipur Half Marathon.

Tribhuvan Army Club duo Reshu Basnet (1:22:45) and Pushpa Bhandari (1:24:34) came second and third respectively. Koji and Basnet received Rs 50,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively and secured berths in the Mumbai Marathon, while third place finisher Bhandari got Rs 10,000.

Likewise, TAC's Sarita Basi won the 10km race with a timing of 39 minutes and 37 seconds, while her teammate Laxmi Pandey (40:12) came second and Mid-western's Phulmati Rana (40:15) was third. Top three athletes earned Rs 20,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively.

More than 2,000 participants took part in the event that also featured 3km and 5km charity walkathon. Leisure Port and Shivam Holiday Group Pvt Ltd jointly organised the event to raise awareness of breast cancer.