Manali-Khardung La cycling c’ship flagged off

Tribune News Service

Mandi, July 26

The second edition of the Manali-Khardung La Cycling Championship (MKCC) has started from Manali today. Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Bhuvneshwar Gaur flagged off the race, which is being organised by the Northern Escapes and Cycling 4 Change.

The race will culminate at the world’s highest motorable pass Khardung La (18,380 feet) on August 3. Cyclists will compete against each other amid challenging conditions and tough terrain to win not only the coveted title, but also the pride of having raced up to the top of the world.

The 2015 edition offers two participation categories with varying levels of difficulty to suit every cyclist’s temperament and skill sets. The nine-day stage race is the championship’s premier high-voltage drama, deliberately designed on a carefully charted route across tough terrains with varying gradients, exclusively for long-distance endurance cyclists.

The Ultimate Cycling Adventure Tour, which will run alongside the stage race, is for cycling enthusiasts who wish to ride on the world’s highest highway at their own pace to experience the thrills and challenges of the terrain.

The competition this year is tough, with skilled participants from the armed forces joining the race and vying for the top spot. With the participation of three-time Women’s Mountain Biking National Champion of Nepal Laxmi Magar, women cyclists have something to cheer about this year.

Talking about the second edition of the championship, Northern Escapes founder Gaurav Schimar said, “The championship is the only high-altitude long-distance cycling race in India. With MKCC, we plan to wedge India firmly onto the world endurance cycling circuit.”

Cycling 4 Change founder and race director Anil Uchil said: “The Manali-Khardung La route is both aspirational and highly inspirational for the global cycling community. Participating in the championship is something that every rider would be extremely proud of, for all of their lives.”

In a word of advice for all riders, he said: “The route, while gruelling, is not just about physical capability, it is more of a mind game.”

“While hundreds of individual and group cyclists have been undertaking the gruelling journey every year, it was last year that a race was organised on the circuit for the first time. The Manali-Leh-Khardung La highway stretches over 500 kms predominantly comprised of paved roads, with stretches of sand, gravel and rocky terrain thrown in for good measure,” he said.

“The MKCC takes the riders through the ever-changing and incredibly dramatic landscapes with steep and constant changes in gradient. The race passes through the world’s highest passes, four of them being above 15,000 feet leading to its grand culmination at Khardung La,” he added.

The organisers have designed the stages of the race to help the riders gradually acclimatise to the rarefied conditions. “It has been my dream to cycle on this stretch since long,” said Laxmi Magar.

Health is a major concern for anyone travelling to the high-altitude region of the Trans-Himalaya and a demanding activity, such as mountain biking in the region, poses several more health challenges.