Preparations for the 14th edition of the Kantipur Half-Marathon are complete, the organisers informed on Monday.

Kantipur Half-Marathon is an annual event organised by the Kantipur Media Group. The 14th edition is taking place on April 18.

“The 14th edition is going to have something new,” RK Bista, the marathon’s race coach, said in a press conference organised in Kathmandu on Monday. “We will be using chip timing for the first time in this marathon.”

Chip timing allows the technical staff to clock the exact time a runner took to complete the race. A chip is attached to either a runner’s bib or shoe to record the timing.

However, the facility of chip timing is only for the main event: the 21.1-kilometre half-marathon.

The 21.1-kilometre main event has a small change to its route from the previous edition. The race will begin and end at the KMG Office in Tinkune.

The winners of the half-marathon, in male and female categories, will bag a cash prize of Rs150,000 each. Meanwhile, those finishing second to sixth will grab Rs75,000, Rs50,000, Rs30,000, Rs20,000 and Rs10,000, respectively.

The other events include a five-kilometre Corporate and Influencer Run, a seven-kilometre Xtreme College Run and a three-kilometre Wheelchair Run.

The top three finishers of the wheelchair run will get a cash prize of Rs35,000, Rs25,000 and Rs15,000, respectively.

The top finishers of the corporate and influencer run alongside Xtreme College Run will receive different gift hampers.

Moreover, the winners of the Xtreme College Run, in both male and female categories, will get a fully sponsored package to the final of the Indian Premier League, said Soniya Rana, business head at Xtreme Energy Drink. “It means Xtreme will cover their two-way tickets, accommodation and other logistics,” Rana said.

Rana expected that the package would encourage more college students to participate in the race. Xtreme Energy Drink has joined the half-marathon as its ‘Powered By’ partner.

Similarly, Global IME Bank has joined the half-marathon as its title sponsor.

“As Nepal’s biggest bank, we are proud to join Kantipur Half-Marathon as the title sponsor,” said the bank’s CEO Surendra Raj Regmi. “We hope that the half-marathon gets better and bigger in the upcoming editions.”

Those who want to participate in the half-marathon should be at least 18 years old. The aspiring runners can register for the event either through kantipurevents.com or by reaching the KMG Office in Tinkune.

“We aim to make the Kantipur Half-Marathon better and popular in the future,” said Mahesh Swar, chief executive officer at the KMG. “We have coordinated with all the stakeholders to manage the route and other technical aspects of the race.”

The Nepal Athletics Association is providing technical support for the half-marathon.