Pokhara International Marathon Set for February 20th with International Participation

Kaski. The 20th edition of the Pokhara International Marathon is scheduled to take place on Falgun 2 in Pokhara.

The marathon is being organized by the Ex-Players Forum with the objective of establishing Pokhara as a sports tourism city, under the slogan 'Sports for Health'. Information was provided at a press conference here today that 151 runners, including 60 foreigners from 21 countries, will compete in this edition.

Dil Bahadur Gurung, Chairman of the Forum, informed that a total of 10,000 runners will participate in 21 different categories of the marathon, and in the main International Marathon category, 151 participants have registered from countries including Nepal, India, Kenya, the USA, the UK, New Zealand, Nigeria, and Belgium. He stated that 3,506 will compete in various competitive categories and 6,700 in the 'Run for Fun' event.

Similarly, 28 runners will participate in the over-45 age group of the marathon. Mahesh Poudel, Secretary of the Forum, stated that 188 runners, including eight foreigners, have registered for the men's half marathon, 190, including eight foreigners, for the women's half marathon, and 25, including one foreigner, for the over-45 age group.

The first-place winner in the marathon will receive NPR 400,000, the second-place NPR 200,000, the third-place NPR 100,000, and the fourth-place NPR 50,000, along with a medal and certificate. Champions in other categories will also receive cash prizes. The Forum announced that NPR 1,989,000 will be spent on prize money alone.