Kathmandu: Tribhuvan Army Club runner Khagda Bahadur Khadka and Olympian Santoshi Shrestha claimed the men’s and women’s crown at the 13th Kantipur Half Marathon on Saturday in Kathmandu — both earning their first-ever golds in the event. 

Khagda crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 6 minutes and 47 seconds narrowly beating Kenyan rival Julius Murio (1:06:56) in the 21km race. Gopi Chandra Parki of Nepal APF Club came third clocking 1:08:48. Army runners Rajan Rokaya, Sanjay Shrestha and Ramji Basnet secured fourth to sixth positions.

In the women’s side, Dhading’s Santoshi clocked 1 hour, 23 minutes and 28 seconds. Army’s Purna Lakshmi Neupane came behind her at 1:25:57 while APF’s Pushpa Bhandari secured third position at 1:26:43. Rounding out the fourth to sixth places were Army’s Sirjana Pandey, India’s Asha TP, and Sindhuli’s Manju Sunuwar.

Both male and female champions took home a purse of Rs150,000 while the second to sixth places finishers earned Rs75,000, Rs50,000, Rs30,000, Rs20,000 and Rs10,000 respectively. 

Themed ‘Let’s Run for a Greener Tomorrow,’ started from Central Business Park, Thapathali and finished at the same point. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli inaugurated the event. 

The 7km college run saw Ajay Pandey secure top finish followed by Amrit Bishwakarma and Bishwaram Kunwar. In the girls’ race, defending champion Susan Karki retained her crown, with Ayushma Acharya and Manisha Thapa in second and third place.