By Rajiv Theodore
Mananthavady, Dec 24, 2019: These are extreme ports and not for the faint hearted. It is all about that adrenalin rush and nature bashing rolled into one. Mountain Terrain Biking (MTB) is where you can experience the tall oaks, the deep valleys and snow-capped mountains.
Events like MTB Shimla, a 2 day racing event starting from Shimla, Trans-Himalayan MTB which is organized in the arid mountainous regions of Lahaul and Spiti district, MTB Kerala and MTB Sikkim are attracting more and more participants these days.
One such event, the MTB Kerala just got concluded at Mananthavady in Kerala on December 22. The MTB’s international and national races were held together, with both spanning the same distance: 38.4 km (eight laps of the 4.8-km track). A total of 102 cyclists from 14 countries including India vied for honors on Sunday in the national and international segments, with men and women participating separately in deviation to an earlier decision that the races would be gender-neutral. A UCI meeting chose to split the races for men and women separately.
The event saw participation from Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Uzbekistan besides the host country. A total of 78 men in both the international (14 countries including India) and national segments covered the tough stretch of red-earth roads with loose stones, pedalling along the 4.8-km lap eight times.
It was five rounds for the 24 women. Among them, Poonam Rana (1:44:53.490) of Uttarakhand, Maharashtrian Priyanka Shivaji Karande (1:49:58.096) and Joysna (2:03:02.868) of Karnataka finished third and fourth, thus making them the topper and runner-up in the women’s national category of MTB 2019. The next four were all from Kerala: Ginimol Joseph Kerala (2:07:26.683), Saisree A P (2:08:58.116), Preethi B K (2:08:58.158) and Binila Mol Giby (2:12:37.902). The men’s race was flagged off by Kerala Minister Ramachandran Kadannappally. Sri Lanka Cycling Federation President N Karunaratne flagged off the women’s race.
The December 20-22 event, which held the amateur trial round and finals in the first two days, was organised by Kerala Tourism under the aegis of the Kerala Adventure Tourism Promotion Society (KATPS), Wayanad District Tourism Promotion Council and the Cycling Federation of India (CFI). Held in rugged Pancharakolli village eight km away from this town of northeast Kerala’s Wayanad district, MTB Kerala is India’s pioneering cycle event listed under Swiss-based UCI, the 1900-founded world body governing the sport.
The top winner of the international segment got a purse of 150,000 rupees, while those finishing second, third, fourth and fifth won 100,000, 50,000 and 25,000 and 20,000 rupees respectively. The winner of the national-level cross-country race (men) secured 100,000 rupees. The women’s section winner got 50,000 rupees.
Men’s international champion Cory, who was trailing behind Iranian Farzad, attributed his MTB feat today to his forte in long-distance racing. “I typically conserve my energy towards the final laps. That worked here very well,” said the biker from Victoria in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Farzad revealed that he reached warm-weather Kerala only the previous day from Tehran that had temperature at zero degree Celsius. “In the last couple of laps, I could hear my heart thumping. I knew I had to slow down,” he added.