A new junior national record was set in the male 4×400 metre relay during the 16th President Running Shield at Dasharath Stadium in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Atit Thapa, Aryan Rana Magar, Ankit Ranabhat and Sudip Bhandari of Gandaki Province set a new record of 3 minutes 27.9 seconds in the category.

The group bettered the record of 3 minutes 30.9 seconds that was set by Bagmati Province athletes—Prabin Rana Magar, Hasta Sunar, Niraj Shah and Santa Bahadur Darai—in the previous edition of the annual school-level national tournament.

The record was also bettered by Bagmati in the 16th edition. Shah and Sunar were accompanied by Sapresh Adhikari and Sachin Thing to complete the race in 3 minutes 30.7 seconds and finish second. Suresh Chaudhary, Chitra Bahadur KC, Biraj Sunar and Barun Dutta Rana of Sudurpashchim finished third.

It was the third national junior record bettered in the ongoing tournament. The first two were in the male high jump and the female 400-metre race on Wednesday.

Abinash Sunar of Bagmati set a new record in male high jump by shattering his personal best set during the qualification event by Bagmati Province last week. Sunar, who had jumped 1.82 metres in the qualification, set a new record of 1.86 metres on Wednesday.

Bhagawati Khadka, who is also from Bagmati, was the one who set a new record in the female 400 metres. Khadka completed the race in 58.94 seconds. The previous record on the course was 1 minute 1.19 seconds, which was set by Sudurpashchim’s Sangita BK.

Khakda completed the race in 59.11 seconds in the final to clinch the gold medal.

The tournament features 686 athletes from seven provinces—98 athletes from each province—competing for 66 gold medals in 26 categories of athletics, 12 categories each in karate, taekwondo and wushu, and two each in kabaddi and volleyball.