Santoshi Shrestha of Province 3 struck the women’s 5,000m gold medal during the athletics meet held under the eighth National Games at the Beljhundi Stadium on Monday.

Shrestha clocked 16 minutes 30.6 seconds, a new national record. But the record will not stand thanks to the utter negligence of officials involved who ended the race one lap short. Bikram Jung Thapa, the chief coach of Mid Western Sports Development Committee, said the matter will be resolved after a meeting with stakeholders.

Bishwo Rupa Budha of Tribhuvan Army Club finished in second at 16:46.1 and Bindra Dhanke Shrestha of Nepal APF Club in third with the timings of 17:03.8. Kanchi Maya Koji holds the national record in the distance at 16:49.98.

Of the other nine gold medals that was on offer on Monday, APF won four, Province 3 clinched three and Army bagged two.  Gopi Chandra Parki, Shila Chaudhary, Nir Pratap Mahato gave APF the individual gold medals while the team also struck the men’s 4x400m title.

Parki completed a thrilling win over Durga Budha of Karnali Province winning the men;s 5,000m gold with the timings of 14:44.3. Budha, who is the 10,000m champion, clocked 14:46.6. Anish Thapa of Gandaki Province collected bronze in 14:57.00.

Shila won the triple jump gold with 11.14-metre jump. Puja Chaudhary (10.60m) of Province 5 won silver and her teammate Sima Chaudhary (10.57m) bagged the bronze medal.

Mahato struck the men’s 400m title complete the distance in 49.9 seconds. His APF teammate Shivaraj Karki clinched silver in 50.5sec and Prakash Danuwar of Province 1 won bronze in 50.7sec. Mahato, Parki, Ashish Chaudhary and Satya Bahadur Budha teamed up to win men’s 4x400m relay gold. Army’s team of Chetnarayan Thaten, Jivan Chaudhary, Ashok Kunwar and Ananda Dev Chaudhary won silver while Simanta Pandey, Madhav Kumar Chaudhary, Niraj Kumar Tharu and Suwarna Kunwar collected the bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Army club complemented winning lesser gold medals than their departmental rivals by clinching the women’s 4x400m title in a new national record. Krishna Chaudhary, Tulasa Khatri, Sangita Meche and Saraswoti Bhattarai completed the race in 4:02.5. The previous mark of 4:08.20 was set by the national team during the 12th South Asian Games. Bhagirathi Tharu, APF athletes Sanuka Thapa, Phulmati Rana and Swastika Shrestha finished second while Aruna Rijal, Purnima Khadka, Kamala Jaisi and Puja Chaudhary won bronze for Province 5.

Nir Kumar Chaudhary handed Army club the second gold of the day in men’s 110m hurdles. Nir Kumar clocked 15.6 seconds to finish ahead of Chandra Dev Jaisi (16.5) of NPC and Ashok Kunwar (16.7) of Army.

Bhuwan Mahato of Province 3 clinched the men’s triple jump gold with a jump of 14.60-metre. Dilli Khatri of Army ended in silver position with 13.98m and his teammate Ashish Chaudhary in bronze place with 13.90m. Pramila Tharu of Province 3 won the women’s 100m hurdles gold in 16.03 seconds ahead of her teammate Jayarani Chaudhary, who clocked 18.00sec. Tulasa Shrestha of Army ended up in third with the timings of 18.3 seconds.

The final day of the athletics meet on Monday will see competition in marathon, women’s 400m hurdles, men’s 800m and 4x100m relay races.