Nagpur, Jan 18
Nagpur created cycling history on Sunday when 46 riders, including 17-year-old Srushti Shivanikar of Amravati and city-based dentist Bhupendra Arya (77), rode 200km in a brevet organised by Nagpur Randonneurs.
A total of 51 riders had registered for the brevet, also known as BRM. Of these, two did not start while three could not finish. The BRM was historic as this is the first time in central India that 50-plus cyclists registered for a 200km event.
The brevet, organised under the aegis of Audax India Randonneurs, which is affiliated to Audax Club Parisien, went one way to Peepalpani beyond Pandhurna.
Dr Surita Daphale, Neeta Kakkad and Kirti Bradiya of Amravati and Dr Swati Kulkarni, Ankita Pusadkar, Dr Anne Wilkinson of Nagpur were among the finishers.
The others who rode the distance are: Vivek Jaiswal, Parag Potdar, Amol Ramteke, Atul Kalamkar, Devesh Tiwari, Aniruddha, brothers Himanshu and Biranshu Roy, brothers Atul and Ajay Kulkarni, Milind Chittawar, Atul Thakur, Kiran Belsare, Vijay Sharma, Ashish Choudhari, Atharva Deshpande, Nishant Gupta, Chetan Thakur, Aniket Shegaonkar, Gaurao Gajbhiye, Kishor Ganjare, Ninad Manekar, Piyush Kotkar, Jagdish Kukreja, Vishwas Chati, Piyush Harshe, Ashish Kadu, Pradeep Singh, Sanjay K Singh, Vikas Patra, Harsh Rathi, Vinod Wankhade, Pravin Raut, Lalit Nirwan, Dharmendra Kumar, Pankaj Sarkate, Aashay Kekatpure and Abhishek Anne.
Of the finishers, Milind Chittawar, Gaurao Gajbhiye, Kishor Ganjare, Aashay Kekatpure, Piyush Kotkar, Swati Kulkarni, Lalit Nirwan, Himanshu and Biranshu Roy, Aniket Shegaonkar, Pradeep Singh and Anne Wilkinson deserve special mention as these 12 cyclists rode 100, 150 and 200km back to back in events organised by Nagpur Randonneurs on each Sunday starting January 3 to become Randonneurs in three weeks flat.
The not-for-profit Nagpur Randonneurs has worked hard to develop a cycling culture in Nagpur and Vidarbha in the past eight years since 2014. NR is known nation-wide for extending excellent support to cyclists riding long distances.