Around Kathmandu in 100 miles

Kathmandu was once a lake inhabited by serpents, until Manjushree visiting from present-day China saw a fluorescent lotus in the water. To reach it, the sage used his flaming sword to cut a gorge at Chobhar, draining the lake and turning it into a fertile valley.

The Manjushree Trail Race (MTR) is inspired by this legend. There are five categories along a near-circular route around the rim of Kathmandu Valley: 10k, 30k, 50k, 100k, and one that is 100 miles that is 157.7km (map, right).

The 100 miles category starts at 8AM on 14 March, and runners have 52 hours until noon on 16 March to complete it. Arjun Kulung Rai’s 26:52:56 is the current record, set in 2024.

“The Manjushree legend and the perfect loop make the race very meaningful, and I wanted to do it,” says participant Dong Sheng from the northern Chinese city of Harbin who started running in 2016 with 5k until he accomplished a 100 miler in 2022. “Running is spiritual, as you are always trying to overcome what you could previously do.”

Sheng is one of 131 international runners who have signed up for the Manjushree race, where there are a total of 502 participants this year, 94 of them women. The first edition of the race only had 7 runners total.

Read also: Nepali trail running champions, Preeti Khattri

“A reason this race is popular is because it is a good mix of rural and accessible,” says Jimmy Oostrom, a Dutch runner. “Often, 100-milers are way out of the way. Here, the start is only a short drive after landing in Kathmandu.” 

The 100 mile and 50km are now qualifier races for the Asia Trail Masters, an international series of trail races based in Hong Kong. Last year, a Nepali team competed and won in the Asia Trail Master Championship series in Borneo. The 100-mile category starts and finishes at Single Tree on Nagarjun, other distances have different start and end points.

On the winning team was Rashila Tamang, who is part of Trailmandu that implements logistics for the race, such as recruiting and training volunteers, and marking the route. “Nepal has great geography for trail running, but it is still very hard to make it your career,” says Tamang.

The MTR has a guidebook detailing the categories, route, checkpoints, rules and what is available at each stop. 

“If we say we’re going to start at 8, we’re going to start at 8,” says Narayan Acharya, the man behind naming the race ‘Manjushree’. “People tried to sign up after the deadline, we had to tell them no.”

Acharya who builds traditional rammed earth houses through his company Sustainable Future Nepal, has been long involved with promoting trail running in Nepal, and hailing from Jumla himself, mentored Sunmaya Budha also from Jumla, now a trail running star in and outside Nepal.

Read also: Sunmaya Budha stays in the running, Vishad Raj Onta 

The organisers are sponsoring up to 50 runners from rural Nepal who may not afford the Rs6,000 entry fee to participate.

“It is hard to get sponsors to give us money because Nepal is still a pretty small market,” says Oostrom, currently on crutches due to an ACL injury. “We also have to take the necessary precautions to make sure we can quickly help a runner in trouble.”

The logistics of an ultra trail race are more complicated than a marathon. Marking and maintaining the trail requires careful work, especially as signs often get lost. The long distances also require runners to run through the night. 

A live tracking system would ensure a runner’s safety as well as prevent cheating, but for now organisers are relying on vigilant volunteers and fellow runners to find runners needing help.

There are strict rules for the race, and breaking them can result in significant time penalties or even disqualification. Get food or drink assistance outside of the checkpoints and you get a penalty of 15 minutes. Miss any pieces of mandatory gear and an hour is added to your time. Take some sort of shortcut or cheat using a vehicle, and you are disqualified.

There are dangers like cliffs along the trail, lightning on exposed ridges, landslides caused by earthquakes, leopards, and hornet swarms. Ultra running takes a massive toll on the body. The brain may shut off certain areas to be able to keep going, so volunteers watch runners carefully. 

“After mile 50, your body starts digesting itself,” says Oostrom. 

Alongside Acharya and Oostrom, the organising crew is made up of race director Ashish Mishra, and Jeevan Lama and Rashila Tamang from Trailmandu. “We can execute this race well because we are all passionate runners ourselves,” says Acharya.

The team has taken measures to make the race safe and comfortable for female participants. ‘Run freely, speak openly, and wear what makes you feel comfortable in our races,’ says the guidebook. Prize money is the same for male and female winners, across categories. 

Lately, Nepal has been steadily building itself as a destination for adventure sports such as mountain biking and trail running. And with the Manjushree race, enthusiasts have hopes to set the standard for other trail races in the country.

Sheng has been part of big races in China. “The better the economy, and more money people have, the more they can get involved in such pursuits,” he says. “But I have to say, for the scale of this race, everything has been done very professionally.”