Fourth Edition of Chandigarh National Cyclothon Held

By 121 News Reporter

Chandigarh 22^nd December:- Hundred (100) leading professional cyclists participated in the Cyclothon held today. These Pros showed their cycling and physical prowess in the gruelling show of sporting talent which was the biggest attraction on the wide Jan Marg, this early morning, when Punjab Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa flagged off the 57.5 Kms Elite National race. The Elite race had cyclists looping around the magnificent Jan Marg like a colourful necklace donning attractive head gear and attire. The professional cycling event had prize money of Rs 3 lakhs which was shared by the top cyclists of the country. The winner was Pankaj Kumar from Haryana  who won Rs 1 lakh, the first runner up was Amarjit S Negi from Punjab who got Rs 60,000 and the second runner up was Ganesh Kumar from Mumbai who took home Rs.40,000. Paramjit Singh from Services was fourth, Rahul from Delhi Fifth, Shahid Ahmed Shabbir from Maharashtra was Sixth, Karanvir Singh from Haryana was Seventh, Swapnil K. Mishra from Punjab Eighth, Anoop Kumar from Servces Ninth and Mallappa from Karnataka stood Tenth. The prize winning race was organised under the aegis of Cycling Federation of India.

Kashish Mittal, Director (Tourism), Chandigarh,said that Chandigarh Cyclothon received a tremendous response with participation of over 3000 cycling enthusiasts. The Chandigarh Administration has been promoting Bike Tourism events from time to time to encourage the people of all-ages to commute short distances on bi-cycles to enjoy the clean and serene environs of the City Beautiful. The Cyclothon will put Chandigarh on the National Cycling map.

 According to G D Kapoor, ED, Hero Cycles, that the event showed the enthusiasm amongst participants who wanted to give a message of health and safeguarding the fragile environment by cycling and not using fossil fuel based transport. Students of colleges and schools participated in large numbers.

Onkar Singh, General Secretary, Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and Ashok Bawa, GM(Marketing), Hero Cycles were also present.

Yadvinder Singh, Director, Sportz 13, said that the registrations made for Chandigarh Cyclothon is a pointer that cycling is quite popular amongst all age groups. We will look into ways to give a fillip to cycling and will making the next event even bigger than this one.