Suman Kulung and Nirkala Rai of Solukhumbu claimed the titles of the Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon held on Monday at the Everest Region.

Kulung, a porter by profession, clocked three hours 43 minutes and 57 seconds to complete the distance of 42.195 km for the men’s title. The 26-year old local of Gudel was the third place finisher of the last edition. Nepal Army runners Surendra Basnet and Bed Bahadur Sunuwar secured second and third place finishes. Basnet clocked 3: 52:8 hours and Sunuwar took 4:5:40 hours to complete the distance.

The event is the highest altitude long distance race organized every year on May 29 since 1993 to commemorate the day Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillay (1953, May 29) conquered Everest for the first time. The marathon, rated as one of the toughest, starts from the Everest Base Camp, situated at an altitude of 5,300 meters and ends at Namche Bazar (3,450 meters).

In the women’s section, runners of Solukhumbu district dominated the show securing top three finishes. Rai clocked 4:51:33 hours to finish ahead of Purnima Rai who took 5:7:26 hours to complete the race.

Dawa Doma Sherpa stood third clocking 5:37:43 hours. The top three finishers in both categories bagged purse of Rs 100,000, Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.

Nepal Army athletes clean swept the 60 km ultra-marathon making a podium finish. Tirtha Bahadur Tamang took the gold medal clocking 6:38:56 hours. Tamang finished ahead of Mohan Dev Joshi (7:18:16) while Purna Tamang took 7:30:00 hours to finish third. The ultra-marathon also began from the Base Camp.

Poland runner Pitor Hercog won the foreigner’s category of the full marathon. He clocked 4:38:22 hours to finish ahead of his compatriot and defending champion of

the category Robert Celinski (4:48:48). French runner Fabrice Arman ended

up third clocking 5:28:30 hours. The top three finishers in the ultra and foreigner’s categories were given equal amount of Rs 100,000 Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000.