The Karnataka cycling team, which has emerged champions for three consecutive times in the National Road Cycling championship, is all set to enter the track once again with the dream of continuing their winning spree in the 22nd Senior, Junior & Sub-Junior National Road Cycling Championship which will begin in Jamkhandi on Saturday.
Karnataka team, first bagged the championship at the 19th National Road Cycling Championship in Jamkhandi in 2014. After this, there was no turning back. In 2015, Karnataka team bagged the winner's title at the championship held at Nilakkal-Laha in Pathanamthitta in Kerala and in 2016, the team recorded hat trick victory at Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. To retain the championship title for the fourth time, Karnataka team has been undergoing a rigourous training at Jamkhandi for the last one month. As many as 27 men and 19 women cyclists from the host State participated in the training session.
A total of 23 competitions including 13 for men and ten for women will be held.
The competitions will be flagged off at Government Totad Shaale on Vijaypur Road at 7:00 am on Saturday (October 28). They will be held on the 15 km road stretch between Jamkhandi and Kavatagi Cross on October 28 and 29. On October 30, the competitions will be held on Jamkhandi-Kavatagi Cross and Jamkhandi-Mudhol-Mahalingpur-Rabkavi road. On October 31, criterium race will be held in three km city circuit covering A G Desai Circle, GLBC, Forest Department office, Sajji Hanuman Temple and SRA Club.
A total of 27 teams including those from Chhattisgarh, BSNL, Assam, SSCB, Punjab, RSPB, Bihar, Chandigarh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jammu Kashmir, Kerala, Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand are participating in the championship. A total of 594 cyclists including 442 men and 152 women and 72 men and seven women officers will be present.
The championship has been organised to mark the golden jubilee celebration of the local Kannada Sangha and the organisers are expecting that around one lakh people will gather to watch the exciting competitions.
Apart from the national championship, invited men and women will take part in the track competitions organised at the historic Polo ground to mark the golden jubilee celebration of Kannada Sangha, on October 31.