Mangaluru: Almost nothing can get better than riding a bicycle early on Sunday morning to beat the stress of the entire week and then followed by a good shower, of course. The tenth annual cycle rally conducted by Swasti RxLife Trust indeed sees more participants as years pass by and this time, as many as 2800 cyclists from all over the city joined the ride.
The rally which doesn’t have an age bar saw participants from ages 10 to 87 and a two and half year old cycling enthusiast who was accompanied by his mother. Apart from participating, this little rider completed the whole circuit without taking a short cut. A circuit of 22 kilometers was covered by the cyclists in the rally held on Sunday, December 11 and took Kottara – Kuloor – Pejawar – Kuloor – Ashoknagar – Sulthan Battery route, participating in a concluding ceremony at Amrita Vidyalayam School ground n Boloor.
The rally was flagged off at 6.30 AM sharp in Ladyhill. Owner of Ideal Ice Creams Mukund Kamath, Joint Managing Director of Jyothi Laboratories Ullas Kamath, Registrar of NITTE University Prof. Dr. Moodithayaa, Mangalorean Athlete Shreema and Jyothi Cycle Co. owner Jyothi Prasad Nayak inaugurated and flagged off the rally.
Mangaluru City Traffic Police made sure that traffic was diverted as the cyclists took route in order to maintain safety. Since it was early on Sunday morning, traffic hassles were limited and the police ensured that one whole lane was entirely dedicated to the cyclists while making the other lane open for two-way traffic.
The rally was led by a pilot jeep and four Royal Enfields maintaining an average of 11 kilometers per hour throughout the circuit which kept a check on over-speeding as well as safety. The rally was trailed by an ambulance in case of medical emergency and a team of mechanics in case of cycles’ mechanical emergency.
Infosys extended their support to the cyclists by having three water and jaggery (good combination for energy) kiosks by the road outside their building. Cyclists were seen quenching their thirst and rejuvenating their energy to cycle up the inclination from Kottara to Urwa Store.
Security personnel of Infosys were seen relentlessly carrying three to four tumblers of water at a time and giving them to every cyclist who stopped over. Speaking to News Karnataka, Infosys security overseer Vishnu said, “The company authorities had instructed me and my subordinates to serve the cyclists with water and jaggery. We saw the enthusiasm in them and never looked back in doing this service to the youngsters and elders alike.”
At the concluding ceremony at Amritha Vidyalayam School ground, seven senior members associated with social service and rally participation were honoured. S Ramachandra Bhandary for his civil service, K Sadananda Prabhu for his achievements in athletics, Abdul Rouf for his service in traffic management and 80-year-old Anand for still running his old cycle repair shop in Marigudi were honoured along with senior cyclists Ramachandra Rao (87 years), Vishwanath (77) and Walter D’Souza (77) for participating in every rally for the past ten years.
This year, 12 cycles and an Amazon Kindle were given away to lucky winners at the concluding ceremony. The list of winners and the cycle they won are as follows:
- Roadeo: Lakshmeesha – Canara College – Second PUC (First rally).
- Mach-City: Abhinav Rao – Lourdes Central School – 6th Std.
- Roadeo: Shubham – Canara CBSE School – 9th Std.
- Hercules Grut: Gautham Shenoy – Sharada Vidyalaya – 8th Std.
- Hercules ZX: Kantesh – St. Aloysius Urva – 9th Std.
- Hercules Grut: Sachith – BJS – 9th Std.
- Mach City: Dr. Ashok Shenoy – KMC (First rally).
- Lady Bird: Shravya Hegde – Amritha Vidyalaya – 10th Std.
- Roadeo: Anvitha Kiran : Mahesh PUC – First PUC.
- Hercules X-100: Kiran Kumar – Canara English Higher Primary School – 7th Std.
- Hercules Roadeo NFS: Pratham – ITI.
- Hercules Roadeo A300: Ashutosh Kamath – Sharada Vidyalaya – 9th Std.
- Amazon Kindle: Noel Sebastian – Kendriya Vidyalaya – 10th Std.
The event was promoted by Hercules, Ideal Ice Creams, BSA, Mach City, K. Ullas Kamath, NITTE, Jyothi Cycle Co., MRPL, Karnataka Bank and S Cube Solutions. Members of Team Mangalore, YHAI, Sahyadri Sinchaya, SICASA, Rx Family, S Cube, Mangalore Bicycle Club, Mangaluru City Police and many other organisations joined hands together for the smooth functioning of this rally.
