Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 1 Nov: Lindum Kiakia of Arunachal Pradesh won the 5th MTB Tawang Challenge in the women’s section.
Overall, Kiakia clocked 12 hours, 53 minutes and 57.923 seconds to finish ahead of her nearest rival Hemlata Dhakad of Madhya Pradesh, who came in second with an overall timing of 14 hours, 11 minutes and 53.150 seconds.
Out of the seven competitors, only Kiakia and Dhakad could complete the race.
In the men’s elite category, David Kumar of Himachal Pradesh won the first position with an overall timing of 9 hours, 2 minutes and 06.625 seconds.
Prakash Thapa (9 hrs, 28 mins, 5.121 secs) and Saurabh Singh (9 hrs, 36 mins, 29.182 secs), both from the army’s adventure wing (AAW), came in second and third position, respectively.
Kamlesh Rana of AAW, Shiven of Himachal Pradesh and Tarun Yadav of AAW finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
Chomson Ngemu of Arunachal Pradesh finished third behind winner Tsewang Norboo (8 hrs, 25 mins, 26.166 secs) of Leh and runner-up Arjun Subba (9 hrs, 11 mins, 01.520 sec) of Assam in the junior men’s category.
Pynshailang Khyllait of Meghalaya, Dhenis Hangu of Arunachal and Piyush Doley of Assam finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the junior men’s category.
The national level cycling event was organised in three stages from Tawang to Dongsengmang (first stage), Dongsengmang to Zemithang (second stage) and Zemithang to Y Junction (third stage) near Bumla, measuring a total distance of approximately 194 kms.
However, the distance for senior women’s and men’s junior categories was around 70 percent of the total distance.
The winner, second and third position holders of men’s elite category were awarded cash prizes of Rs 80 000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 30,000, respectively, while Rs 10,000 each was given to the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers.
The winner, second and third position holders in the men’s junior category were awarded Rs 30,000 Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively, while the fourth, fifth and sixth place finishers were awarded Rs 5,000 each.
The winner and runner-up of the women’s section was awarded Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000, respectively.
The cycling event was flagged in by Tawang DC KN Damo on 31 October.
The event had been flagged off on 29 October by the commander of the 190 Mountain Brigade.
Forty riders from across the country competed in the senior elite men’s category, while seven riders competed in the senior women’s category.
There were nine competitors in the men’s junior category.
The youth affairs department organised the three-day event, in collaboration with the Arunachal Cycling Association and the Cycling Federation of India.
