Nepali athletes ready to challenge foreigners in Real Marathon
REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, Oct 12: Nepali marathoners are expecting to throw tough challenge to some participating foreign runners in the 6th Real Kathmandu Marathon on Saturday.
According to the organizer Nilendra Shrestha, who is also the president of the Nepal Amateur Athletics Association, more than 60 foreign runners are participating in the tournament, majority of them in half-marathon.
More than 100 Nepali runners have registered their name for the marathon while dozens of others have registered for the half-marathon.
Kenyan runners Ngatia Peter Mwangi and Patrick Ndungu Kamau are considered as real threats for Nepali runners. Mwangi claimed that he has his personal best timing of 2 hours 15 minutes back home.
"I heard about some foreign runners, who are claiming to be better than us, otherwise most of the foreigners run for fun here. However, I´m not worried much about them since we Nepali athletes are well aware about the local condition," said defending champion Rajendra Bhandari.
Mwangi said that he knew about the marathon through internet and registered his name from Kenya. "I´m here to compete and finish it in my personal best timing. I hope I can win it," said the Kenyan.
The marathon organizer Shrestha informed that the organizing committee is encouraged by the foreign participation in the 6th edition. "We have not done any promotion in foreign countries since we are yet to make proper environment to run a huge international marathon in Kathmandu. However, we are expecting to make it big by next edition if we get support from locals and police in traffic management," said Shrestha.
The winner of the marathon will receive Rs 100,000.
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Nepali Athletes Ready To Challenge Foreigners In Real Marathon
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