The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Dhaka Marathon 2023 was held in the capital city Dhaka on Friday. The marathon was inaugurated in the morning by Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan. State Minister for Youth and Sports Mohammad Zahid Ahsan Russel, MP, was present there as special guest. <br />'' <br />'' A total of 2163 runners participated in the full marathon and half marathon. Among the elite runners, 21 men and 17 women participated in the full and half marathons.  Besides, 23 men and 20 women runners took part in the full and half marathon among the South Asian runners. Thirty eight elite runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, Ukraine, Rwanda, Lithuania and Uganda and 43 South Asian runners from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives participated in this marathon. Runners from the USA, France, Germany, China, Japan, Netherlands and Norway also took part in the marathon.<br />'' <br />'' Kenyan runner Stanley Kiprotich Bett became the champion of the marathon with a timing of 2 hours 8 minutes and 10 seconds (2:08:10). He was followed by another Kenyan runner Joseph Kyengo Munywoki who clocked 2:08:50.  In the female runners category, Bashanke Imoshe Bilo emerged champion with a timing of 2:35:25 while Tecla Kirongo from Kenya clocked 2:35:29 to come second. <br />'' <br />'' Indian marathon runner Bangriya Vikram Bharatsinh clocked the best time of 2:18:28 in the South Asian male runners category. He was followed by Anil Kumar Singh (India) with a timing of 2:20:30. In the South Asian female marathon runner category Pushpa Bhandari from Nepal came on top with a timing of 2:48:02 while Mahamarakkalage Sujani Piumika Madumali Perera from Sri Lanka came second with 2:48:22.   Among Bangladeshi runners, Md. Al Amin came first with a timing of 2:26:39 while Md. Farid Miah came second with a timing of 2:32:42. <br />'' <br />'' Runners cover a distance of 42.19 kilometres for a full marathon while a distance of 21.09 kilometres is required to be completed for the half marathon. <br />'' <br />'' At the end of the marathon, Army Chief General SM Shafiuddin Ahmed distributed the prizes.