City cyclers pedal 50km for green cause

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG: Cycling Shillong, along with Catapult Design Solutions Pvt. Ltd, organised the second edition of the Green Pedal Shillong Challenge (GPSC) on August 15 in collaboration with the East Khasi Hills district administration.

GPSC, an MTB endurance race, is the first of its kind in Shillong that covers a distance of 50 km. The vision of GPSC is to make it an annual sporting event in the global calendar while enabling and influencing the community to leave a green footprint.

This year, the Green Pedal Shillong Challenge had participants from Meghalaya as well as other northeastern states like Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim. There were also participants who travelled all the way from Mumbai and Himachal Pradesh to take part in this MTB Endurance Race.

Peter Dkhar, Deputy Commissioner of East Khasi Hills district, flagged off the race at 6am. Altogether 81 participants raced through the 50-km track that started from MadanIewrynghep and concluded in Lad Smit.

PW Ingty, Additional Chief Secretary of the Government of Meghalaya, East Khasi Hills, was also present.

In the men’s MTB category, Tendon Michael Terang from Assam came in 1^st place clocking at 1hr 43mins, Banshanlang Khyllait secured the 2^nd place with a time of 1hr 49 mins and NaoremBickySingha from Manipur secured 3^rd placen with a time of 1hr 52 mins. Banshanlang Khyllait was the only cyclist from Meghalaya to have entered the Top 10 with no professional training.

In the women’s category, Naphisabet Kharsati secured 1^st place followed by Anisaphi V. Nongbri in 2^nd place and Ophelia L. Nongbri in 3^rd place.

The top 7 positions were awarded with cash prizes which were worth a total of 2 lakhs.