It was also a perfect record for army as all four teams fielded by the departmental giant maintained their stranglehold in the annual competition.
Army's D team, which comprised soldiers from the Rangers Battalion, finished first among the eight teams in the 43.2-kilometer event featuring running (6.8 km), cycling (26.4 km) and rafting (10 km), clocking 2 hours 29 minutes and 16 seconds.
The Rangers, one of the Special Forces of the Nepal Army, finished the race almost two minutes ahead of the Tribhuvan Army Club's A team, which settled for silver with a timing of 2:31:05 hrs.
The winning team's Ram Sharan Karki stole the show during the adventure sports event held in extreme conditions along the slippery off-road parallel to the Prithvi Highway and in the swollen Trishuli River.
Karki outsprinted all of his opponents to reach the cycling rendezvous alone, leaving behind even his three teammates. He then pedaled to the rafting spot with an advantage of massive six minutes -- which would ideally place him 4 km ahead with an average speed of 40 km per hour -- before the first opponent arrived.
But his teammates caught up with him only after the A team had boarded the raft. There was more twist to come as the Rangers overtook the A team after covering 500 meters on the raft. There was no looking back as Karki and his team, which included Tara Bahadur KC, Khem Bahadur Kumal and Hem Taj KC eased to victory in the second edition of the game organized by the Nepal Army.
"The trail was slippery and tricky but it was easy to raft because of the rise in water level," said Karki.
Army's B team secured bronze medal clocking 2:34:38 hrs, followed by Army's C team (2:35:45 hrs).
Himalayan Single Track finished a distant fifth clocking 2:48:18 hrs. Armed Police Force, Kathmandu Bike Station and Lalitpur Bike Station occupied the remaining three positions.
CoAS General Gaurav SJB Rana handed a check worth Rs 100,000 to Satya Jung Shah, the winning team's manager while the second and third position holders received Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively.
PHOTOS COURTESY: NEPAL ARMY
Tribhuvan Army Club Team A wins 2nd CoAS Int’l Tri-Marathon tit...
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