The 12th edition of the Kantipur Half Marathon is all set to take place on May 18.

“Preparations for the 2024 Kantipur Half Marathon are now complete,” Mahesh Swar, chief executive officer of Kantipur Publications Limited, said during a press meet on Wednesday.

This year’s half marathon, which carries a slogan ‘Run to inspire the young’, will feature men’s and women’s half marathon (21.1 km), Corporate run (5 km), college run (7 km) and wheelchair race (3 km). The college run was added to the event from the 2023 edition.

The 21.1 km half marathon—the main event of the annual road running event—will start from the Central Business Park, the office of Kantipur Publications at Thapathali, and will traverse through Maitighar Mandala, Baneshwar, Tinkune, Koteshwar, Jadibuti, Lokanthali, Ghatthaghar, Thimi, Sallaghari chowk and return via the same route before finishing at the starting point.

The winners of the men’s and women’s half-marathon will bag a purse of Rs100,000 each. The runner-up will receive Rs50,000, while the third-placed, fourth-placed, fifth-placed and sixth-placed runners will get Rs30,000, Rs20,000, Rs10,000 and Rs5,000, respectively.

The winner, runner-up and the third-place finisher in the wheelchair category will earn Rs30,000, Rs20,000 and Rs10,000, respectively.

The top-three finishers of corporate run and college run will also receive various prizes and gift hampers.

The players’ registration for the event will close on Thursday.

Organiser Kantipur Media Group expects a participation of more than 3,000 runners across all the events this year.

Kantipur Media Group first organised the road-running event on February 19, 2011 to commemorate its 18th anniversary. More than 1,000 runners had participated in the first edition.

The event has been continued annually since, establishing itself as one of the premier distance running events in the country.

The first seven editions took place on the Publication’s anniversary day.

The latter editions are being held on different dates in order to make the event a separate sports discipline, according to organisers.

Tribhuvan Army Club’s Mukesh Pal and Nepal Police Club’s Rajpura Pachhai are the defending champions of the men’s and women’s titles of the 21.1 km race respectively.

Kanchi Maya Koju is the most successful athlete in the women’s half marathon, having won five of the past eight editions.

Hari Kumar Rimal has won the men’s half marathon four times.