Bhumi Raj Rai of Nepal Police Club (NPC) successfully defended his title as Pushpa Bhandari of Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) Club took the women’s marathon gold under the seventh National Games here on Saturday.

The seventh National Games is slated to begin from November 27 to December 4 but the marathon events were held earlier so that the athletes could get appropriate rest time for the upcoming 12th South Asian Games which is scheduled to be

held in India in January next year. Rai timed two hours 31 minutes and 03 seconds to claim the men’s gold.

Khim Bahadur Khatri of APF finished second with a timing of 2:38:24, while another Armed Police runner Dan Bahadur Dhami ended up third clocking 2:40:27.

In a dull women’s event, Bhandari edged ahead of clubmate Sonu Jaya Rai to clinch gold. The winner of the 40th National Athletics Championships, Rai, timed 3:33:13, while winner Bhandari timed 3:32.51 to clinch gold medal.

Bishnu Maya Budha of Mid-western Region was a distant third clocking 3:53:53. The timing in both the events were way behind of the national record holders Baikuntha Manandhar and Bishwo Rupa Khadka. Legendary runner Manandhar holds a record of 2:15:03 which he had set during the 1987 South Asian Games in Calcutta. The record is yet to be broken in the regional games.

Khadka, meanwhile, holds the national record of 2:57:10 which she at the 2013 Chicago Marathon. A total of 20 runners - 13 in men and seven in women’s sections - from five development regions and three departmental teams participated in the event.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Ministry Secretary Dipendra Nath Sharma announced a cash purse of Rs 100,000 for the athletes who set new records in the seventh National Games. The Games includes 35 disciplines.