The marathon was organized to spread awareness from the community to the country and abroad about the importance of biodiversity, along with the conservation of the world's rarest wildlife, the red panda.
What you should know
The Red Panda Marathon, which was postponed due to the Gen-G protests, will be held on Poush 15. The marathon was scheduled to be held on Asoj 4, but was postponed due to the Gen-G protests.
The marathon has been organized to spread awareness about the importance of biodiversity, along with the conservation of the world's rarest wildlife, the red panda, from the community to the country and abroad. The distance of the marathon has been decided to be 44.2 kilometers. The marathon, which will start from Ilam Bazaar, the headquarters of Ilam, located at an altitude of 1,820 meters above sea level, will end at Sandakpur, a tourist area at an altitude of 3,610 meters, according to the organizer, Deep Jyoti Youth Club. Sunil Bantawa, executive director of the organizer, Deep Jyoti Youth Club, informed that 100 runners will participate in the marathon. According to him, the competition will be organized in two categories, open to both men and women and local (Ilam, Panchthar, Taplejung) runners from three districts will be able to participate.
The first runner in both men and women's open categories will receive a prize of 150,000 rupees each. The second runner will receive a prize of 1,100,000 rupees, the third runner will receive a prize of 50,000 rupees, and the fourth runner will receive a prize of 30,000 rupees.
Similarly, the first place winner among the local participants will receive 25,000, the second place winner 20,000, the third place winner 10,000 and the fourth place winner 5,000, the club informed through a press conference.
Deep Jyoti Youth Club and its partner organizations are carrying out various activities for the conservation of red pandas in Ilam, Panchthar and Taplejung, which are located in the hilly and high hilly areas of Koshi Province.
The Red Panda Marathon is being organized as a continuation of this program, which is being run with the support of Red Panda Network, Play for Nature, Ilam Municipality and Sandakpur Rural Municipality. It is said that the Nepal Army will provide technical support to the competition.
Last year, the club organized an international trail marathon in Taplejung. The organizers say that the competition is also being held to send a message that sports can be linked with nature conservation.
