Canadian Cory Wallace (1:43:27.664 hours) and Iranian Farzad Khodayari (1:43:33.288) finished first and second respectively in the men’s international category at the sixth edition of the MTB (Mountain Terrain Bike) Kerala held at Pancharakolli, near Mananthavady, on Sunday.
The women’s segment of the India’s biggest competitive cycling event, too, wove a similar narrative when German Naima Madlen Diesner (1:23:42.932) and Nepalese Laxmi Magar (1:37:37.490) emerged the topper and runner-up at the Priyadarshini Tea Environs, near this hill town.
National champion
Indians Shiven and Kiran Kumar Raju finished third and fifth in the men’s international category. Chandigarh-based Shiven (1:53:51.054) and Kiran from Bengaluru (1:54:34.258) thus emerged the national champion and runner-up respectively in the national segment.
Devender Kumar of Uttarakhand was third (national), while Buddhi Bahadur Tamang of Nepal (1:54:03.788) came fourth in the international section.
The MTB’s international and national races were held together, with both spanning the same distance: 38.4 km (eight laps of the 4.8-km track).
A total of 78 men in both the international (14 countries including India) and national segments participated. It was five rounds for the 24 women. Among them, Poonam Rana (1:44:53.490) of Uttarakhand, Maharashtra’s Priyanka Shivaji Karande (1:49:58.096) and Joysna (2:03:02.868) of Karnataka finished third and fourth, thus making them the topper and runner-up in the women’s national category. The next four were all from Kerala: Jinimol Joseph Kerala (2:07:26.683), Saisree A.P. (2:08:58.116), Preethi B.K. (2:08:58.158) and Binila Mol Giby (2:12:37.902).
The men’s race was flagged off by Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran and Sri Lanka Cycling Federation President N. Karunaratne flagged off the women’s race.
