When Chennai put its feet down

CHENNAI: It is still dark as 12-year-old Jhanavi’s parents unload her green Ladybird bicycle from their car, and give it the once-over as she fastens her helmet. Kneepads and elbow guards in place, she hops on the cycle and goes for a practice ride. Jhanavi has been preparing all week for the kids ride, as part of BSA’s Chennai Cycling 2012 event along a cordoned-off Marina Beach here on Sunday morning. Now, she feels ready and confident to cover the four km-long ride. “I have cycled only around my colony, never long distances. But since daddy was joining the green ride, I wanted to give it a try as well,” says the vivacious girl.Many residents of the city roused themselves to be at the Marina Beach as early as 5am to take part in the cycling event. This included a good mix of professional cyclists and the general public who wanted to do their bit for a good cause, including children.A significant portion of proceedings of the first-timeevent would go to United Way of Chennai (UWC), a charitable organisation affiliated to United Way Worldwide – the largest private non-profit entity in the world.Around 4,000 people took part in the various categories of events which were held between 5.30am and 11am on Sunday. Apart from the kids ride and green ride (an eight km-ride for new cyclists or those who haven’t cycled in a while), a corporate ride, a celebrity ride and an amateur ride were also held.National level races for men and women were also conducted. Rahul Borde, Southern Western Railways, Maharashtra, won the first place (1 hour, 20 seconds) in the 56 km men’s ride, coming ahead of Pankaj Kumar of Patiala and Ashif M Ahar of Karnataka, who placed second and third respectively.A whopping 101 men participated in the race.The Keralite women swept all three places in the 32 km women’s ride. Mahita Mohan (58 minutes, 30 seconds), Deepa Chandran and Parvathy Viji, placed first, second and third respectively, out of 23 women who participated.Prize money worth `5 lakh was given to the winners of the national races.Many prominent people from various circles in the city participated in the event.Vijayakumar, Member secretary, SDAT and Dr D Raghuram, President, TI Cycles of India flagged off the women’s national race and the men’s national race by GA Rajkumar, Additional Chief secretary to the Government -Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department.Popular film actor Karthi Sivakumar flagged off the little ones on the kids ride.Jennifer McIntyre, Consul General of the American Consulate General, Lakshmi Narayanan, Founder member, UWC and MA Alagappan, Chairman, UWC also participated in the event.Participants were impressed with the arrangements made by the organisers in association with the traffic police, so as to ensure safe passage for the cyclists.Madhav, a participant, said, “If this becomes an annual event, even more people will patronise it. It will be a healthy and inspiring way to work for a cause.”