Media Release
Mangaluru, Dec 31: The 2023 edition of MANGALORE CYCLOTHON was organised by WE R CYCLING (popularly WERC) in city on Sunday, December 31. Aimed at raising awareness about health and fitness through cycling and road safety, this grand cycling event commenced at 7:15 am from Mangala Stadium entrance and concluded at Amrita Vidyalyam, Boloor.
Attended by more than 1,100 + cyclists consisting of mostly the school kids and their parents, the Cyclothon was flagged off by Anupam Agrawal, commissioner of police, in the presence of Dinesh Kumar, KSPS, DCP Crime & Traffic, along with the main sponsors of the event, Mukund Kamath of Ideal Ice Cream, Shivananda Rao and Shubhanand Rao of Grahini Masala, Anand Prabhu of Kasharp Fitness, S M Muthalib of Taj Cycle Co, Paramjeet Singh of AVON Cycles.
Veterans of the cycling community in Mangaluru and WERC members accompanied the guests during the flag-off.
Thrilled to see the sea of young cyclists lined up for the Cyclothon so early in the morning and that too on the last day of the year 2023, Anupam Agrawal emphasised the use of cycling as an alternative mode of commute and requested everyone to ride responsibly following all the traffic rules so as to make roads safer for everyone. He wished that this commitment to fitness and safety would be carried forward in everyone's day-to-day life.
The Cyclothon covered a distance of approx. 10km on the Mangaluru city roads, passing through Mangala stadium - Sree Narayana Guru Circle – Lalbagh-Jail Road-Bunts Hostel - Mallikatte Circle - St Agnes College - SCS Hospital - Jyoti Circle - Bunts Hostel – PVS – Balalbagh – Mannagudda - Barke Police station - and finally concluded at Amrita Vidyalayam. Boloor.
Dinesh Kumar, KSPS, DCP Crime & Traffic rode the entire distance with the kids interacting with each of them, sharing his experiences, whole personally supervising at the critical traffic junctions.
A post-rally workout was held by Kasharp Fitness, where everyone performed a recovery drill under the guidance of trained experts from Kasharp Fitness.
At the Amrita Vidyala grounds, Ashwath Rasquina welcomed the guests onto the stage, which included Dinesh Kumar, KSPS, DCP Crime & Traffic, Geeta Kulkarni, ACP, Traffic, Shivananda Rao & Shubhanand Rao of Grahini Masala, Anand Prabhu of Kasharp Fitness, S M Muthalib of Taj Cycle Co, Paramjeet Singh of AVON Cycles and principal of Amrita Vidyalaya, Akshatha Shenoy.
Shyam Prasad Nayak and Sarvesha Samaga handed mementos to each of the guests on the dias.
Dinesh Kumar, KSPS, DCP Crime & Traffic speaking to the kids at the closing ceremony highlighted the need to inculcating the habit of Health & Fitness everyone's daily routine. He also highlighted the dangers of drug abuse and made all the 1100+ kids take a pledge of NO DRUGS.
Inspector Gopalkrishna Bhat and Inspector Krishnanand, along with their teams who worked relentlessly to ensure that traffic is managed in a professional manner, were also invited on the stage and were handed over the momento by S M Muthalib of Taj Cycle Co. The most popular inspector amongst the kids and cyclists, Gopalkrishna Bhat highlighted, as a responsible citizen, why everyone should follow traffic rules and how it can impact the day to day lives. He further made kids commit towards the safer use of roads and no use of drugs.
Speaking on the occasion, Anand Prabhu of Kasharp Fitness said his primary source of commute towards his office is cycle and encouraged every child to make the habit of using cycles as their primary mode of commute to their schools.
A lucky draw for the registered participants was held at the end, in which two AVON Cycles werehanded over to the lucky winners.
WINNER 1 - Tanvi Shetty
WINNDER 2 - Govind Singh Rajput.
Harniish Raj, secretary, We R Cycling Club compered the programme.