Tirtha Pun wins Lumbini Int’l Peace Marathon

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Apr. 7: Tirtha Pun emerged victorious in the Lumbini International Peace Marathon by completing the 42.195-km-long race in 2 hours 30 minutes and 49 seconds. 

The marathon was a part of the 1st Lumbini International Peace Festival organised in the birthplace of Gautam Buddha by the Nepal Olympic Committee with the support of the Chinese Embassy, Lumbini Development Trust, Nepal Tourism Board and Lumbini Province Sports Council.

While Tirtha finished the full marathon first, Khadga Bahadur Khadka and Durga Bahadur Budha finished second and third respectively. Khadga finished the race in 2 hours 20 minutes and 57 seconds while Durga took 2 hours 22 minutes and 27 seconds to complete the distance.

The full marathon was organised for men while the half-marathon (21-km-race) was organised for women. And the woman racer in form, Santoshi Shrestha, won it.

Santoshi, who won gold in the 13th South Asian Games, finished the race in 1 hour 18 minutes and 45 seconds. Around two weeks ago, Santoshi had also won the half marathon at the Right to Protein Run in Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, Purna Rajya Laxmi Neupane from Tribhuwan Army Club and APF Club’s Pushpa Bhandari completed the Lumbini half marathon second and third respectively. Purna completed the race in 1 hour 19 minutes and 21 seconds and Pushpa completed it in 1 hour 25 minutes and 14 seconds.

Likewise, the marathon had a 5-km run for the men’s and women’s categories. Nageshwar Aahir came first in the men’s category while Sirjana Pandey finished first in the women’s.

While Akkal Bahadur Pal and Ganesh Singh Raut finished second and third in the men’s 5-km race respectively, Asha Raut and Nirmala KC came second and third in the 

women’s respectively.

A 5-km race was also organised for male and female students separately. Aruna Chaudhary, Kushum Thagunna and Bhuma Chaudhary came first, second and third in the female category respectively. Similarly, Umesh Barai, Sandesh Pandey and Ashish Kumar Chhetri came first, second and third in the male category respectively.

The winner of the full marathon received Rs. 500,000 while the second and third-positioned racers received Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 200,000 respectively. There were cash prizes for racers finishing up to 10th in the full marathon.

Nevertheless, only the top three racers of the half-marathon received cash prizes. The top three finishers of the half marathon were given Rs. 200,000, Rs. 160,000 and Rs. 120,000 respectively.

In the four 5-km categories, the first, second and third-placed racers of each category received Rs. 15,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively.