"Winning the title of Kantipur was my dream. After many other dreams have been fulfilled, this dream has also been fulfilled. So I am very enthusiastic.

Olympic runner Santoshi Shrestha said after winning the 13th edition of Kantipur Half Marathon on Saturday. She completed the race in 1 hour 23 minutes 28 seconds and lifted the trophy of Kantipur Half Marathon for the first time. 

'My brother, mentor, family all wanted to win the title of Kantipur once. But sometimes Africa, sometimes preparations for Olympics and so on, I was not getting the opportunity. Now the chance arose, I was the first. 

Tying me, my best performance, that didn't mean anything, I just wanted to win the title, I won,' said Santoshi about her dream of winning the Kantipur title. 

^{Women's half marathon runner-up Purnalakshmi Neupane with KMG CEO Mahesh Swaran and Global IME Bank Deputy CEO Suman Pokharel (right).}

Santoshi's opponent who returned from London Marathon last week was Purnalakshmi Neupane of Army. Purnalakshmi finished second with a time of 1 hour 25 minutes 57 seconds. Last year she was fourth. APF's Pushpa Bhandari came third. She clocked 1 hour 26 minutes 43 seconds. Last year, Pushpa was ranked second.

Santoshi, who became the winner of this half marathon in her personal third attempt, won the title four times in the 5 km category. Santoshi was runner-up twice in the half marathon. Whenever she used to run middle distance. She recalled, "Before the 13th Green, when I used to run middle distance, I came in second when I was a junior. It seemed, once I was the first. I have realized that thought now.' 

Dhading's Santoshi, who won gold in the 10,000-meter race in Saag, became known as the 'Golden Girl' and has participated in many international competitions including the Paris Olympics and the Asian Games. 

Army runner Khadak Bahadur Khadka also won the men's title of the 13th Kantipur Half Marathon like Santoshi for the first time. He completed the race in 1 hour 06 minutes 47 seconds. Khadak won the title in his second participation. 

He was beaten hard by his Kenyan rival, Julius Muriuki. Khadak bet on the title by overtaking Julius from Maitighar Mandala. Julius's timing was 1 hour 06 minutes 56 seconds. Kantipur Media Group Chairman Kailash Sirohia and Kantipur Editor-in-Chief Umesh Chauhan awarding the

^{half marathon runner-up to Julius from Kenya.}

It was thought that I would win this year based on the training. Because the same players who did the training were the rivals. There was a bit of fear as there was also a foreign pro runner (Julius). We were together, I overtook him from Maitighar and increased the speed and won the title,” Khadak said after the victory.

He is a runner who is training for the national team preparation under Mission 2026. Khadak, who won the Dhangadhi Half Marathon in his first participation on Baisakh 1, has reached the age of 40. He is a marathon runner from Jajarkot. Recently, he has been running half marathons to further strengthen his marathon preparations. Khadak has Bangabandhu Dhaka Marathon bronze among international medals. His best half marathon time is 1 hour 3 minutes 31 seconds. This year also, APF's runner Gopichandar Parki won the third place. He covered the distance in 1 hour 08 minutes 48 seconds. Gopichandar was at the same place last year as well. Gopichandar, a regular competitor of Kantipur Half Marathon, has already won the title twice. He is involved in all but one version.

A regular competitor, he said that all aspects of the management of Kantipur Half Marathon are going well and suggested the organizers to 'start timing accuracy'. Races like half-marathon and marathon should start at the appointed time. It is internationally recognized. Otherwise, a late start will affect the timing of professional athletes. This is an internationally live event, it does not send a good message,' former winner Gopichandar said, 'Our belief is that this should be an excellent competition.' The competition was inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Due to his delay in arrival, the race scheduled for 7 am was pushed back by 20. 

On the men's side, Army runners Rajan Rokai finished fourth, Sanjay Shrestha finished fifth and Ramji Basnet sixth. Rajan completed the race in 1 hour 09 minutes 45 seconds, Sanjay in 1 hour 10 minutes 32 seconds and Ramji in 1 hour 10 minutes 52 seconds. On the women's side, Karshan Pandye of Army (1 hour 30 minutes 57 seconds), Asha TP of India (1 hour 34 minutes 01) and Manju Sunuwar of Sindhuli (1 hour 51 minutes 48) won the fourth to sixth positions respectively. Manju stood third in the college run last year.

The male and female winners of the half marathon won a prize of Rs 1 lakh 50 each. The second to sixth runners-up received 75, 50, 30, 20 and 10,000 prizes respectively. This is an increase in prize money from last year.

The theme of this year's Kantipur Half Marathon, presented by Global IME Bank, was 'Let's Run for a Greener Tomorrow'. The half marathon started from the front of the Central Business Park at Thapathali, the office of the organizer Kantipur Publications Limited. Ajay Pandey (21 minutes 24.22 seconds), Amrit Vishwakarma (21 minutes 31.25 seconds), Vishwaram Kunwar (21 minutes 56.57 seconds) won the first, second and third positions respectively in the 7 km college run for boys. Vishwaram was second last year.

Susan Karkey won the girls' college run for the second year in a row. She completed the distance in 29 minutes 07 seconds. She also won the race last year in 29:55 minutes. Ayushma Acharya (30 minutes 09 seconds) came second and Manisha Thapa (30 minutes 36 seconds) came third.

Vikesh Ghimire was first in the 5 km corporate and celeb run for men with a time of 18 minutes and 38 seconds. He is also the winner of last year. Revat Dahal (19 minutes 16 seconds) was second and Sher Bahadur Tharu (19 minutes 22 seconds) was third. KFC Finance Head Rituraj Shah and KTV COO Surajsingh Thakuri presenting a gift hamper to the winner of

^{corporate run, Regina Duval.  Photos : Deepak KC, Hemant Shrestha, Mahesh Pradhan/Kantipur Regina Dulal won the women's title of}

corporate. She completed the 5 km race in 24 minutes and 10 seconds. Girl KC finished second with a time of 24 minutes 38 seconds and Kalpana Maharjan came third with a time of 26 minutes 22 seconds. Winners of college and corporate runs were awarded gift hampers.

...

Aishwarya Kumari's hat-trick in the title

Prem Vic and Aishwarya Kumari Kumal have won the 3 km wheelchair category. While Prem won the title for the first time in that race, Aishwarya became the champion for the third time in a row. On the men's side, Ramkaji Mizar came second and former champion Ramesh Khatri came third. Prem completed the race in 4 minutes 57:10 seconds, Ramkaji in 5 minutes 09:30 seconds and Ramesh in 5 minutes 16:89 seconds.