Pedalling to new heights

Famous for the adrenaline rush it offers and the thrilling experiences, Mountain Terrain Biking (MTB) Kerala – an international mountain bike championship – over the years has become a prominent initiative by the Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala. MTB Kerala is the first mountain bike race in India to be featured in the MTB championships of Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) – the Swiss-based world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events.

The championship has been an exhilarating experience for the participants and viewers both alike with its challenging trace and power-packed performances. Held at Mananthavady, Wayanad among the lush greenery and challenging terrains of the Western Ghats, the international and national races were held together, with both spanning the same distance: 38.4 km (eight laps of the 4.8 km track).

Adapting well to the tropical conditions that stand in high contrast to the winter chill in their countries, Canadian Cory Wallace (1:43:27.664 hours) and Iranian Farzad Khodayari (1:43:33.288) rode to victory by finishing first and second, respectively in the men's international category. The women's segment of India's biggest competitive cycling event, too, wove a similar narrative when German Naima Madlen Diesner (1:23:42.932) and Nepalese Laxmi Magar (1:37:37.490) emerged the topper and first runner-up. Earlier this month, Laxmi also stormed to victory in a time of 1:20.20 in a 16 km race at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu in cross-country cycling. India's Poonam Rana trailed Laxmi by seven minutes and managed to finish third in the international women's category.

The Indian participants were not far behind. Shiven and Kiran Kumar Raju finished third and fifth in the men's international category. Devender Kumar and Rajat Pandey clinched the sixth and seventh respectively – finishing ahead of Myanmar's Saw Eh Khu.

Poonam Rana (1:44:53.490) of Uttarakhand, Priyanka Shivaji Karande (1:49:58.096) from Maharashtra and Joysna (02:03:02.868) from Karnataka were the podium finishers for the women's national event. Ananya Kadidal of Karnataka and Ginimol Joseph from Kerala won the amateur races in the men and women's categories respectively. Ananya, who is a farmer from the Shimoga district of the Malnad region, clocked 35:21.611 minutes and is undoubtedly a champion in the making if nurtured.

Men's international champion Cory Wallace, who was trailing behind Iranian Farzad, made a masterstroke towards the last lap. Speaking on his strategy, he said: I typically conserve my energy for the final laps. That worked here very well. Runners-up Farzad revealed that he reached the venue only the previous day from Tehran that had a temperature at zero degree celsius and Kerala turned out to be warmer than he expected. "In the last couple of laps, I could hear my heart thumping. I knew I had to slow down," added the Iranian.

Since its inception in 2014, the championship has undoubtedly raised the bar of Indian competitors in the realm of the sport. The championship has allowed Indian athletes to compete against some of the best across various countries. The event saw participation from Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Uzbekistan besides the host country.

In an exclusive interview with millenniumpost, national mountain-biking champion Shiven talks about his experience, scope of the sport in India and much more

Many congratulations on the podium finish. Could you please tell us about your experience?

It was my 4th time at MTB Kerala and 3rd time on the same track in Wayanad. My flight got cancelled from Delhi, and I reached just 2 hours before the race travelling the whole previous couple of nights which didn't let me acclimatise to the Kerala heat in contrast to the weather here in North. I started the race at the front and soon consolidated in the position and held it under control for the remainder of 8 laps. The track was 4 km in length with a long steep climb and dusty, rocky descent amidst tea estate. I aimed for a podium in International and win in the National category and glad I could pull it off with ease. Thanks to the consistent training I have been doing for the whole year.

What is the scope of Mountain biking in India?

Mountain biking requires a lot of endurance as compared to cycling. The conditions are tougher. One can develop the skills in a couple of years, but for endurance and power, you would need years of hard work and rigid training. This is the first time that someone has represented the country in this sport at the international level. We are trying to discover new pathways and have always been experimenting with the science associated with the sport. For an Indian, s/he can get exposure by travelling abroad, especially Europe. Though we are growing at a good pace, there are no institutions across the country where one can be trained formally. We have been dependent on online training: foreign coaches hand us assignments on various parameters and they evaluate us on the results. Knowledge about the sport is a problem in the country as well.

There has been a rise in the participants from India but most take up the sport as a leisure activity. Due to various constraints, there has been a time when the Indian squad comprised only men from the Indian Army. But now more athletes are coming forward bearing all expenses on their own.

Where does India stand at the international level?

For the past four years, India has been participating in the Asian championships and there has been some progress. In July 2019, India bagged handsome points at the Asian Mountain Bike Championships held in Lebanon. Me, Kiran and Kamlesh Rana from the Indian Army accumulated a large chunk of the total points. This lifted India 17 places in the world rankings. Until then, we were at the 89th position and now we stand at 72.

What has been the role of the federation or the government in uplifting the sport?

When you look at the bigger picture and want to see progress in any sport, it isn't possible without the support of federation/govt. For any sport to grow, it's a two-way road, where both athletes and the federation need to up the game. Luckily for us, the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) has been helping us to compete in various international events like the Asian Championships or the South Asian Games where we can get exposure against international athletes.

Also, MTB Kerala was the first UCI event in India which shows the commitment and dedication of the federation to grow the sport furthermore in the upcoming future. I won't be surprised if we see a lot of international athletes travelling for events in India and we don't need to go abroad for exposure. It might take some time, but we will surely get there.

What are your plans ahead?

The event I will be participating in next would be the Asian Championships scheduled to be held in Thailand in February. We are also eyeing a slot for the 2024 Olympics but the challenge that lies ahead is that only the top 20 countries in the MTB rankings are allowed to participate and there are only 50 slots approximately for competitors across the globe. It will be difficult to break into the top 20 from where we stand now, but not impossible. In the next four years, we will try to accumulate as many points as possible to create a more probable scenario for us to be a part of the Games.