KATHMANDU, OCTOBER 14
Hom Lal Shrestha won the title of the 15th Kathmandu Marathon here at the Dasharath Stadium today.
The Tribhuvan Army Club athlete, Shrestha completed the 42.195km race in two hours, 30 minutes and 25 seconds to win the second title of the marathon. He had won the 12th edition race three years ago. Shrestha received Rs 100,000 along with an electric scooter from In- Drive, one of the partners of the marathon organised by NRS Sports Foundation.
Shrestha was not satisfied with the timing but said he completed the marathon as planned. "There was no point in pushing hard as there was no tough competitor this year," said Shrestha.
"I was leading from the beginning and ended up as the winner without trouble. It was an easy outing for me as all of the athletes who took part in the marathon were new ones," he added.
Santosh Baniya of Nepal APF Club was a distant second at 2:37:01, while his teammate Rajan Chaudhary came third in 2:43:10. Baniya and Chaudhary earned Rs 50,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.
The Asian Games participants did not take part in the event, while others also skipped the event to run in next month's Nepalgunj Marathon.
Another TAC athlete Khadak Bahadur Khadka won the men's half marathon in one hour, seven minutes and 29 seconds, while the 13th South Asian Games marathon gold medal winner Kiran Singh Bogati of APF came second on 1:08:56. APF's Rajendra Tamang was a distant third in 1:12:37.
In women's section, APF's Bindra Dhanke Shrestha finished first in 1:25:41, while TAC's Purna Laxmi Neupane was second in 1:27:07 and Nepal Police Club's Sumitra Chaudhary came third in 1:30:38. The 37-year-old Shrestha, who claimed the titles of the first five editions, returned to the 15th Kathmandu Marathon to win her sixth crown. Top three athletes in the 21km events received Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
Nageswor Ahir of NPC won the men's 5km event in 17 minutes and 51.28 seconds, finishing ahead of APF's Sanjeev nepali (17:54.33) and TAC's Gopal Tamang (18:10.11). TAC dominated the women's race with Bimala Tamang finishing first in 21:39.81, while her teammates Babita Rai (22:79.50) and Basanti Gole (23:01.00) came second and third respectively. Krishna Bhadur Shrestha (18:50.13) and Purnima Shrestha (26:22.14) won 5km school section titles.
A version of this article appears in the print on October 15, 2023, of The Himalayan Times
