Tura/Ampati, Oct 18th : The first ever cyclothon (cycle marathon) completed its first 43 kms from the Law College Ground, Tura and continued into the Ampati Mini stadium. The event was the first of its kind in the state and possibly the whole North East. The event was organized by the William Initiative in association with the Northern United Club and the District Administrations of South West Garo Hills and West Garo Hills. The competition was flagged off by the Sports Minister, Zenith M Sangma after a short speech by the minister himself.
More than 400 enthusiastic participants gathered early morning at 7 am in the Law College ground. The DC of SWGH, Ram Singh was amongst the participants along with his better half and completed the course along with the other contestants. The participants came from all over the region and started their trek with enthusiasm. Although a 12 hour bandh call was in place after it had been called by the Pro ILP group, it had no effect on the people who had come or the competition itself.
Zenith Sangma, after flagging off the event said, “This is just the start of things that we are looking to do to engage the youth in the future. The fact that it is under the aegis of the CM’s ‘Youth For Green’ program makes the whole idea very valuable. We want to encourage the people of the region to care for the environment and also to state that going green through the use of cycles can reduce pollution. There are a lot of programs coming up in the future and we hope the message gets carried forward”.
Daryl W Momin, the President of William Initiative and one of the people behind the movement said, “It has been our endeavour to promote green within the region. In the same way, this came as the best way to get the message across. The administration has ensured security of the participants and the response to the competition has been phenomenal. All along the road, people gathered and cheered the participants and this shows that the event was important for all of us”.
The winners of the event were richer by Rs 50,000 while the runners up got Rs 20,000 each and the third place got Rs 10,000. Along with the Cyclothon, a tug of war as well as a ‘Slow Food’ competition was also organized. The awards were handed over by the CM of Meghalaya, Dr Mukul Sangma, who lauded the efforts of the participants for not only defying the bandh call, but also coming out in such large numbers to support the cause of the environment.(SP news)
