Satbir, Manorama win in Elite category at Cyclothon

New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) Satbir Singh and T Manorama Devi emerged victories in the Elite Men's and Elite Women's events of the National cycling championship at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here today.

Rounding out the elite men's podium were Arvind Panwar from RSPB and SSCB's Krishna Naikodi, while Manipur's Sonali Chanu and Kerala's Amrtiha Ragunathan finished with silver and bronze respectively in the women's elite race.

"I would like to congratulate all the medallists at the National Cycling Championship. The 2017 edition had a strong field of the best 180 elite cyclists in the country," said Onkar Singh, Secretary General, Cycling Federation of India.

The 2017 edition of the National Championship was hosted by Saksham Pedal Delhi India's Premier Cyclothon and it saw over 4500 cyclists participate in an atmosphere of gaiety and revelry.

Based on the distance to be covered, the Cyclothon featured four categories Elite (Men 45 km/women - 27 km), Amateur (27 km), Open and the popular Green Ride.

While the Elite and Amateur categories were for serious cyclists, the 9 km Open and the 5 km Green Rides allowed participants the experience the joy of cycling.

Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan also participated in the 5 km Green Ride.

The Cyclothon attracted participants from all walks of life including officials from various ministries, sports personalities, celebrities Farhan Akhtar, school and college children cycling professionals, amateurs and housewives.

The Cyclothon under the banner of Saksham Pedal Delhi was organized by Petroleum Conservation & Research Association (PCRA), and supported by the oil companies viz. IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, GAIL, OIL, MRPL, CPCL, NRL and IGL with technical guidance from Cycling Federation of India.

Another 76 such cyclothons are planned Pan-India over the next 2 months to sensitize the country to adopt the ideology of conservation for a greener environment