Army's Binod Rokaya and Purnalakshmi Neupane won the fourth Lumbini International Peace Marathon title on Saturday, regardless of the water. Binod won the men's marathon and Purnalakshmi won the women's half marathon in the Peace Marathon organized in the holy Buddhist pilgrimage site of Lumbini. Both won the title for the first time in the competition.

While Binod won the title by beating his own department rival, Purnalakshmi managed to break the dominance of Santoshi Shrestha. Two-time winner Santoshi was satisfied with second place this time. Santoshi said that she could not maintain the lead she had taken at the beginning due to muscle problems due to the continuous rain. Olympian runner Santoshi had not had to give up a title in any competition for almost 5 years. Only last week, she became the champion in the Pink Keyrathon.

Last year, Santoshi won the title by beating Purnalakshmi. This time, Purnalakshmi won the title by completing the race in 1 hour 17 minutes 10 seconds. Santoshi from Dhading took second place in 1 hour 18 minutes 40 seconds. Last year, Santoshi's winning timing was 1 hour 20 minutes 25 seconds. 

Winner Purnalakshmi said, 'Even though it was raining, I kept running at my own pace. That was the basis of my victory.' Army's Nisha Sarki (1.19:19 seconds) came third and Sunsari Rokaya (1:21.46 seconds) came fourth. Winner Purnalakshmi received Rs 150,000, runner-up Santoshi received Rs 100,000, third-placed Nisha received Rs 80,000, and fourth-placed Sunsari received Rs 50,000.  Winner Purnalakshmi said, 'Even though it was raining, I kept running at my own pace. That was the basis of my victory.' Army's Nisha Sarki (1.19:19 seconds) came third and Sunsari Rokaya (1:21.46 seconds) came fourth. Winner Purnalakshmi received Rs 150,000, runner-up Santoshi received Rs 100,000, third-placed Nisha received Rs 80,000, and fourth-placed Sunsari received Rs 50,000. 

While the Army dominated the men's marathon, Binod clocked 2 hours 17 minutes 55 seconds. Since he was constantly practicing in the department, he did not have any difficulty in winning the title despite the rain. He was happy to win the marathon title for the first time. He said, "I am very happy to win the marathon title for the first time in this holy land. Even though it was raining and challenging the weather, it could not stop my journey to victory."

Last year's winner Anish Thapa Magar was not participating this time. Army's Sushil Kumar Shahi remained in second place this time too. Sushil, who had finished runner-up after finishing 6 seconds behind Anish last year, was also behind by a few seconds this time. Sushil had secured second place with a time of 2 hours 18 minutes 16 seconds. Narendra Singh Rawal came third with a time of 2 hours 19 minutes 58 seconds. Chinese runner Wang Qi (2 hours 21 minutes 05 seconds) came in fourth and Kenyan Julius Wakome (2 hours 23 minutes) came in fifth.

Dal Bahadur Kunwar (2 hours 24 minutes 07 seconds) came in sixth, Ishah Nungu (2 hours 25 minutes 42 seconds) came in seventh, Kul Bahadur Basnet (2 hours 28 minutes 17 seconds) came in eighth, Olympian runner Harikumar Rimal (2 hours 29 minutes 20 seconds) came in ninth and Karna Bahadur Rokka Magar (2 hours 34 minutes 20 seconds) came in tenth.

Marathon winner Binod received Rs 350,000, second place Sushil received Rs 250,000 and third place Narendra received Rs 150,000. The top 10 runners in the marathon were awarded Rs 100,000, 80,000, 60,000, 40,000, 20,000, 10,000 and 5,000 respectively.

Dharma Maharjan won the first place in the veteran 5 km race. Ramchandra Shrestha came second and Rewat Bahadur Dahal came third. In the men's 5 km open race, Nageshwor Ahir of Nepal Police Club came first, Rupesh Karki of Army came second and Prince Nishad of India came third. In the women's race of the same distance, Sumitra Kumari Chaudhary of Police, Deepa Pariyar of Police and Sharmila Khadka of Police won the top three positions. Chinese runner Li Hiqin secured the fourth position.