POKHARA, Feb 13: Pokhara International Marathon tournament, which seeks to develop Pokhara as a sports city, has kicked off on Saturday.
Organized by the Former Players Forum–Nepal, the race started from the Pokhara Stadium. The runners will go round various places of the tourist city of Pokhara and finish back at the stadium.
Chief Minister of Gandaki Province Prithivi Subba Gurung inaugurated the tournament that is being participated by 209 male runners. Similarly, 29 female players have been running for a 21-km-long half marathon.
Safal International Marathon from Feb 19
The players from four different countries including Nepal, Japan, UK and Uruguay have been participating in the marathon with the theme of ‘Sports for Health’.
Similarly, players from 13 districts of Nepal have participated in the marathon, according to the organizers. The runners from the departmental teams of Nepal Police and Nepal Army are also on the race.
The winner of the marathon will be awarded with Rs 200,000 while first runner up and second runner up will be given Rs 100,000 and Rs 75,000, respectively, as cash prize. Similarly, Rs 100,000 is the first prize for the women half marathon followed by Rs 75,000 to first runner up and Rs 50,000 to the second runner up.
Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s tournament is being organized in various phases. Today’s event is the part of the first phase of the tournament, according to the organizer.