Kathmandu, February 15

Homlal Shrestha edged past two-time defending champion Krishna Basnet to win the title as Tribhuvan Army Club athletes dominated the fifth CoAS Open Marathon here today.

Shrestha finished the 42.195km distance in two hours, 22 minutes and 17 seconds to win the title along with Rs 125,000 and a motorbike.

Basnet came second in 2:23:49 and he earned Rs 65,000. Another TAC athlete Navaraj Saud finished third in 2:29:37, while his teammates Gyan Prasad Bhattarai and Bed Sunar were fourth and fifth respectively. The third, fourth and fifth placed athletes got Rs 35,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively.

In women’s half marathon, Pushpa Bhandari won the title with the timing of one hour, 17 minutes and 08 seconds, while Nepal Police Club’s Rajpura Pachhai was second in 1:18:37 and TAC’s Bishowrupa Budha came third in 1:20:22. Top three in half marathon got Rs 50,000, Rs 35,000 and Rs 25,000 respectively.

In U-45 half marathon, Indian Army’s Tirtha Pun came first in 1:05:05, finishing ahead of TAC duo Khagendra Bhat (1:05:58) and Deepak Adhikari (1:07:02). In above-45 section, Dharma Maharjan, Bhim Bahadur Gurung and Bhimsen Awale claimed the top three spots, while Santosh Nath Yogi, Bishnu Kumar Tamang and Sagar Shrestha did so in 10km race.

Likewise, Bhupendra Singh Rawat and Navaraj Thapa won the 10km races for military attaches and Nepali Army officers respectively.

In 10km women race, Devi Pun, Rasmila Aryal and Sita Kunwar claimed to three positions respectively. Also, Ishwor Chandra Basnet and Swechha Balami Magar won 5km races for students.

Top three athletes in 10km and 5km races received Rs 10,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively.