Premier cyclothon event organised in Odisha today

Over 10,000 participants took part in the first of its kind premier Cyclothon event here that was flagged off by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The idea behind this programme lay in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to the people in his monthly radio show 'Mann Ki Baat' about avoiding the use of petrol and diesel for one day in a week to conserve fuel and contribute towards nation building.
While flagging off the event at Kalinga stadium, the minister said that benefits of cycling were not only limited to protect the environment or conserve fuel but it also carried huge health and fitness dividends.

Pradhan appealed to all the citizens to join in the movement for conserving the finite petroleum resources through practicing simple, easily implementable ways and using petroleum products in cooking, transport, agriculture and industries.
Based on the distance to be covered, the Cyclothon featured three categories Saksham Elite Race (Men 33 km/ women-22 km), and Saksham Green Ride (11km) from Kalinga Stadium to Khandagiri via Jaydev Vihar Chhak and back to Kalinga Statdium in the same route.
Cyclist Rajesh from Tamil Nadu won a cash prize of Rs 1.25 lakh and Rutuja of Maharastra won Rs 1.0 Lakh in Odisha's premier Cyclothon here today.

Officials from various ministries, sports personalities, cine stars and personnel from the oil industry participated in the event.