Kathmandu: Anish Thapa Magar clinched the third Lumbini International Peace Marathon 2025 while Santoshi Shrestha claimed women’s half marathon gold in Lumbini on Saturday.

The marathon featuring only male runners saw tough competition for top three positions with only few seconds determining the positions. Anish completed the 42.195 km distance in 2 hours, 20 minutes while Sushil Kumar Shahi stood second at 2:20:25. Kenyan runner Stephen Kosi secured third place clocking 2:20:48.

Winner Anish received Rs 350,000 while Sushil earned Rs 250,000 and  lakh rupees and Stephen walked away with Rs 150,000 in the event that offered total prize pool of Rs 1.5 million.

In the women’s half marathon, Santoshi finished the race in 1 hour, 20 minutes and 25 seconds securing a purse of Rs 150,000. Purnalaxmi Neupane finished second at 1:21:37 and collected purse of Rs 100,000. Chinese runner Chen Wei secured third place clocking 2:0:24: and bagged a purse of Rs 80,000.

5km Race

Nageshwar Aahir secured first place in the men’s 5km race  completing the distance in 15 minutes 46.8 seconds. Ganesh Singh Rawat finished second at 15:50.4  and Bhupendra Sunar stood third at 16:0.1 seconds.

Nirmaya Chaudhary secured first place in women’s 5km clocking 21:14.44. Two Chinese runners followed her with Qin Wanchi finishing at 33:27.18 and Wang Yachi completing at 33:40.27.

The event also featured 5km races for school boys and girls. Additionally, 3km walkathon was organized as part of the event.

The marathon started from Lumbini Square and finished at the same point. The Peace Marathon was organised by the Nepal Olympic Committee with support from the Chinese Embassy.

Winners were awarded prizes and certificates by Nepal Olympic Committee president Jeevan Ram Shrestha and Chinese Ambassador Chen Song, among others.