The 10th edition of Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon is set to kick off from today morning with an aim to promote Nepal as one of the best destinations for adventure sports in the world.

Over 160 national and international runners are taking part in the international event, which is the highest number of participants till date, according to a press statement.

International participants from eighteen countries including Australia, UK, USA, Germany, New Zealand and India amongst other are taking part in the event.

The event is held each year by Himalaya Expeditions and co-convenor Adventure Sports Nepal on May 29 to commemorate the first successful ascent of Mt. Everest by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary on the same date in 1953.

According to Shikhar Pandey, the event manager, “Unlike past years weather brought lot of challenges but we overcame them without letting it affect our participants in anyway. The race will be held tomorrow as scheduled.”

He said this with regards to the disturbance of Kathmandu-Lukla flights due to weather just prior to the main event. However, the weather at Everest Base Camp has been excellent throughout.

The marathoners are already at Everest Base Camp and are in high spirits to take part in the ‘world’s highest marathon’ tomorrow. They trekked there in about two weeks from Lukla and have already taken part in mock races to warm up for the event and are in top condition.

Pandey further added, “Considering that we were able to overcome last-minute weather challenges tomorrow’s marathon will by far be the best edition.”

Pandey was referring to the difficulty of organising an international marathon in the difficult terrains of Everest region.

Pandey also pointed out that tomorrow’s marathon is a unique tourism product and such products require all the assistance it deserves to develop the country’s tourism industry. “Innovation is the key and our tourism industry requires it in large doses,” said Pandey. “We will always strive to push ourselves in that direction,” he added. nepalnews.com