With participants from all over the nation, the first-ever Ultimate Ladakh Cycling Challenge kickstarted on October 27.
 
The four-day-long cycling challenge was aimed to support the Prime Minister’s vision of making Ladakh Carbon Neutral and promoting the Fit India Movement. It was organised by the Ladakh Police and Ladakh Tourism Department in association with the Cycling Federation of India supported by the Ladakh Cycling Association.
 
Keeping the pandemic in view this year, participation was restricted to only 100 cyclists including riders of both local and national levels. The 4-day event will be carried out on various routes across Ladakh with the Leh-Kharu and Leh-Likir road on the first two days followed by mountainous routes of the Leh-Taglangla and Leh-Khardungla passes on approximate heights of 18000 ft above the sea level.
 
Lieutenant Governor, R K Mathur; IG, ITBP, Deepam Seth; Commissioner Secretary, UT Ladakh, Ajeet Kumar Sahu; Chief Conservation of Forest Secretary Level, PP Sing; Principal, District and Session Judge, Ranveer Singh Jarothia were present.
 
R K Mathur addressed the occasion with his admiration for the organisers and wishes to the participants. He said that he witnessed a huge enthusiasm for cycling during the lockdown among the youth of the UT and discussed with the IG to organize such an event. 
 
Mathur stressed on making Ladakh identified with more adventurous sports and informed that anybody finishing particularly the marathon covering Khardung-La with required timing gets automatically qualified to world level cycling marathons. He later wished the event success and urged to make it an annual event. 
 
General Secretary, Cycling Federation of India, Maninder Singh welcomed all the riders and boosted the confidence of the participants with his inspiring speech. He further shared his awe to the picturesque and difficult terrain and compared it to the famous Tour De France and gave hope to the spectators of converting this national event into the Union Cyclist International (UCI) event. 
 
The race was flagged off by R K Mathur and the rider began with the chants of ‘Jai hind’