Hari wins NIBL Heritage Marathon

HIMALAYAN NEWS SERVICE

KATHMANDU: Hari Kumar Rimal of Tribhuvan Army Club won the men’s open half-marathon as the departmental side clean swept the event of the NIBL Heritage Marathon here today.

Hari clocked 1:12:19 hours to complete the 21km race ahead of his clubmates Kalyan Baniya (1:12:30), defending champion Rajendra Bhandari (1:12:50), Man Bahadur Thapa Magar (1:13:01) and Hom Lal Shrestha (1:13:17). Hari received Rs 100,000, while others rounding up in the top five finishes pocketed Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000.

Hari, however, was concerned with his timing. “I would have been more happy had I improved my personal timing,” said Rimal, who had previously won the Kantipur Half Marathon here on February 19.

Rajendra said he had no time to prepare for the race. “I came to know about this tournament just a couple of days ago,” said Rajendra adding he was satisfied with the outcome despite getting no time to prepare.

Nepal Armed Police Force (APF), meanwhile, dominated the women’s 10km race. APF’s Kanchhi Maya Koju (35:04.6), Bindra Shrestha (36:44.7) and Sonu Jaya Rai (41:24.3) secured the top three finishes.

“The win has boosted me for future events. It is good to win the title specially after a comeback,” said Kachhi who pulled of Kantipur Half Marathon and sixth National Games due to injury. Top three finishers in the category pocketed Rs 25,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.

US athlete Tristan Gebhart won the 21km race in men’s foreigners category clocking 1:46:49. Michael Beck (1:53:50) of Germany and Kenneth Neils (2:19:57) finished second and third. Miki Upreti (58:6) won the women’s 10km ahead of Likonge Makai Mulenga. The top three finishers in both the categories received Rs 25,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,000 each.

Laxman Kafle (36:06.61) of Chwanga Savings and Credit Cooperative, Raju Shrestha (37:43.79) of Linkan Savings and Nirmal Bhattarai (39:31.74) of Sajhedari Nepal Savings secured top three positions in the men’s bankers 10km race and received Rs 15,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.

Sumitra Koju of Bhaktapur, Laden Pradhan of Nabil Bank, Rima Rajbanshi of Bank of Asia took gold, silver and bronze respectively in the women’s category. The top three finishers of the female bankers 5km race got Rs 10,000, Rs 8,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.

Ram Krishna Maharjan of Naya Bazaar won the veteran’s 5km clocking 17.56, while Krishna Raj Chaudhary of Baneshwor won the Physically Challenged Wheel Chair category event in 3:36.52. Both winners got Rs 15000 each. Anish Shrestha of Bansbari School won the school student boys’ 5km with Rina Kapali of Nawaratna finishing first in the girls’ category.