CHANDIGARH, 25th September: The second edition of Chandigarh Cyclothon organized by the Chandigarh administration with Sport 18 with ‘Hero Cycles India as a main sponsor had a massive participation from over 5000 cycling enthusiasts ranging from small children to adults in different cycling rides organized as a part of the world tourism week celebrations of the Chandigarh Administration, the event was a great success.
Chandigarh Cyclothon’ in Chandigarh was inaugurated by the Adviser to the Administrator UT Chandigarh, Mr. K.K Sharma alongwith Mr O.P Munjal Chairman and Managing Director, Hero Cycles Limited.People from different age groups and diverse walks of life took part in the cycling events held under the aegis of Cycling Federation of India.Organized jointly by the Chandigarh Administration and Sport18 of the Network18 group and Hero Cycles. Cyclothon has become Chandigarh’s largest mass mobilization cycling event. The event also marked the onset of Chandigarh World Tourism Week organized by the Chandigarh administration from today onwards till ist October.
The first ride of the Cyclothon, the Elite National Cycling Race featuring top cyclists from India was flagged off by Adviser to the Administrator UT K.K Sharma in the presence of P.S Dhindsa (President, Cycling Federation of India ), V.K Singh (Finance Secretary, Chandigarh Administration), D.K Tiwari (Managing Director, CITCO). Elite Cycling event had a track loop of 60 Kilometers race and the total prize money for this race was 5 Lakhs. The race saw a close finish with Arvind Panwar from Delhi winning first place with 35 points and award prize money of Rs. 1 lac. Finishing at a close second was T Rajesh from Tamil Nadu with 24 points securing a prize of money of Rs. 75,000. In the third place was Harpreet Singh from Centre of Excellence with 21 points, taking home Rs. 40,000.
The different categories of races included 60 km national elite race, 20 km corporate ride, 10 km green ride, 20 km amateur ride and 5 km kids ride.Marking the event, Adviser to the Administrator, Mr K.K Sharma, said, “Cyclothon marks the start of the World tourism week cerebrations and the city marks a wonderful setting for such cycling event and it is exciting and wonderful to see a large turnout.”
Mr. O.P. Munjal Chairman and Managing Director said “Cycling is a healthy activity and we are making efforts to promote the culture of cycling among families and friends, we thank the people of Chandigarh for their support to the Hero Cycles India Cyclothon” Mr. Satish Menon, CEO of Sport18 also said, “We are truly happy to see so many enthusiastic participants come together for the second consecutive year of Chandigarh Cyclothon. The movement has truly gathered momentum and is reflective in the increased number of participants as compared to last year. We whole-heartedly thank all the participants for their support and also thank the Chandigarh
Administration to make this event even more memorable and cheerful.” The event also saw participants from corporate firms like Aeromatrix, Vodafone, DLF and Infosys to name a few. Besides these, a huge number of cyclists participated from the Punjab University and other educational institutes also participated. Several partners came on-board as partners to amplify the buzz around the event namely HDFC Life, Coca Cola, Hindustan Times, Punjab Kesari, 92.7 Big FM, Day & Night News, Cycling Federation of India .
This initiative by Chandigarh Administration and Sport18 aims to
promote Chandigarh as a clean and a green city with people motivated to adopt cycling as not only an exercise activity but also to promote cycling as a mode of transport , travelling short intra city distances amongst beautifully landscaped cycle tracks within the city . Chandigarh is a cycle friendly city with special cycle tracks made
along with the roads covering almost all sectors, having pleasant weather, good traffic control systems and green belts etc. The
Chandigarh Administration has been promoting Bike Tourism events from time to time to encourage the people of all ages to use the bicycles as a mode of transport being most environment friendly and economical mode as also the need of the hour in the global warming era.