Rajbhandari, 31, runner-up in the last two editions, clocked 3 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds for his maiden title in the Everest Marathon that began from the Everest Base Camp situated at the altitude of 5,300 meters and finished at Namche Bazar (3,450 meters).
DB Kulung Rai of Solukhumbu came second with a timing of 4 hours 11 minutes 5 seconds and Tirtha Tamang finished third clocking 4 hours 12 minutes 9 seconds. Tamang, who hails from Bhojpur, is an athlete of Tribhuvan Army Club.
Altogether 105 runners from 20 different countries, including 35 Nepali male runners, had competed in the main event that covers a distance of 42.195 km.
Hom Lal Shrestha, Phu Dorje Sherpa, Arjun Rai Kulung, Bhakta Bahadur Rai, Furee Sherpa, Bishnu Rai and Ngima Sange Sherpa claimed the fourth to tenth positions respectively.
Rajbhandari from Lukla took the lead from Goraksep, about 5 km away from the starting point, and maintained the pole position until the end. "I am very pleased to win the title in my fourth attempt," said Rajbhandari, who was awarded a medal, certificate and a purse of Rs 100,000 by Andy Sparkes, UK´s ambassador to Nepal.
"I did not have a good training this time and I reached the Base Camp yesterday (Tuesday) only," said the 31-year-old, adding, "I had not expected to win the race this time but after crossing Goraksep I could not see anyone behind me when I looked back. Since then I became hopeful of winning the title."
DB Kulung Rai, 21, who started competing in long-distance race since 2009, achieved second position in his very first participation in the marathon. "I could have achieved first position had I not stumbled in Goraksep and picked up a knee injury. It took me more than a minute to get up and a few more minutes to run," said Rai, showing his bruises on his knee. "At that moment I wanted to quit the race, but I still got up and ran."
A few months ago, Rai had competed in the 65-km Ultra Race from Goraksep to Lukla and secured the fifth position. In the same ultra race he had finished seventh in 2012.
Bishnu Bahadur Rana, an Indian Army soldier of Nepali origin, secured first position in the foreigners´ category of the marathon and secured an overall 18th position. Rana clocked 6 hours 1 minute 10 seconds. Gerrit Voortman of the Netherlands clocked 6 hours 18 minutes 47 seconds to take second position in the category and 28th overall. Indian Army´s Mahabir Singh finished third clocking 6 hours 30 minutes 7 seconds.
Rana, a mountaineer of the Indian Army, who hails from Tanahun, said a recent joint Everest expedition of the Nepal Army and the Indian Army helped him claim his maiden title in marathon.
Gerlinda Schimmel of the Netherlands secured gold medal in the half-marathon clocking 5 hours 50 minutes. Frank Rocktafhcl of Britain came second with a timing of 5 hours 50 minutes 30 seconds and Pawzik Heike of Germany finished third clocking 7 hours 46 minutes 50 seconds.
The top three finishers of the half-marathon bagged a purse of Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively.
According to Bikrum Pandey, the president of organizer Himalaya Expedition, the main aim of organizing the event was to promote Nepal as a tourism destination. "There used to be few runners in the initial years, but since the last few editions, the marathon has drawn international attention and people from around the globe have started arriving in Nepal to compete in the event."
The event, one of the toughest marathons in the world, is organized every year by Himalaya Expedition on May 29 to commemorate the day Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillay conquered Everest for the first time in 1953.
Box: Nepal Army clean sweeps ultra race
Nepal Army athletes dominated the 60-km ultra race, securing the top three positions. Samir Tamang clocked 7 hours 56 minutes 37 seconds to win the title ahead of Bed Bahadur Sunuwar (8 hours 13 minutes 40 seconds). Purna Tamang of the same departmental team secured the third position clocking 8 hours 21 minutes 35 seconds. Altogether 17 runners had competed in the ultra race organized for the first time to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the first ascent of Mount Everest. The top three position holders bagged Rs 100,000, Rs 70,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.
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