POKHARA: Binod Rokaya and Nisha Sarki won the men’s and women’s half-marathon titles respectively at the fifth Right to Protein Pokhara Run held on Saturday.

Rokaya completed the 21km men’s race in 1 hour 7 minutes 20 seconds to claim the title. Sushil Kumar Shahi finished second in 1:08:05, while the third-place finisher completed the race in 1:08:14. Narendra Singh Rawal and Sanjay Shrestha finished fourth and fifth in 1:08:50 and 1:09:09, respectively.

In the women’s category, Sarki won with a time of 1:21:47. Nirmala KC finished second in 1:24:00, while Ashma BK was third in 1:27:50. Rayalaxmi Rawal and Dipa Basnet finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Rupesh Karki won the men’s 10km race in 31 minutes 34.60 seconds, followed by Umesh Thapa (32:06.08) and Dhiraj Limbu (32:28.42).

Saraswati Bhattarai won the women’s 5km race in 20 minutes 35.12 seconds. Sapana Pariyar and Janaki Rana finished second and third in 25:30.01 and 26:33.11, respectively.

The winners of the men’s and women’s half-marathons received Rs150,000 each. The second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-placed runners received Rs 100,000, Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively. A total of Rs 1.6 million was distributed among the top five finishers across all categories.

Organised by the Nepal Feed Industries Association, the event drew 4,106 participants from Nepal and nine other countries.

Held under the campaign ‘Run for a Healthy Nepal’, the Right to Protein Run has been organised since 2019 to raise awareness about accessible sources of quality protein, including eggs, meat, fish, milk, soy, tofu, paneer, lentils and pulses.