 |
Kathmandu Monday November 19, 2001 Marga 04, 2058.
|
Weichert wins 2nd leg of
Mountain Bike race
Post Report
SANKHU, Kathmandu, Nov 18 – After an
overwhelming Nepali domination in the opening leg of the race, Mark Weichert of Germany
rode away with top honour in the second leg of the Siemens Action Asia Himalayan Mountain
Bike Race that concluded on Sunday.
Weichert, who set off along with 39 other
bikers in the Open category, completed in 26 minutes 25 seconds. He had a tough time
pulling away from his fellow German rider, Christopher Muller, who crossed the finish line
only two seconds later.
A total of 129 participants competed in the
second leg of the race that started from Club Himalaya Resort, Nagarkot and ended at
Sankhu covering a distance of 11.5 kms.
Various cultural troops, school children and
members of various local clubs offered their warm welcome to the cyclists as they arrived
in this northwest town. The riders cycled past some 60 gates that were placed by the
locals along the route to greet them.
Suresh Kumar Dulal, who finished third in the
opening leg of the race – 22-km Raniban-to-Kakani – demonstrated his consistency
on the wheels as he clocked 27 min 11 sec to come third again in the second leg.
Australian rider Peter Stewart proved that he
is as good a rider as an organiser to come home first among eight senior racers. He
finished the race with the timing of 31 min 02 sec. A US rider, Marten Springer, who
clocked 32 min 15 sec stood second while Gary Huges followed him at third place with the
timing of 33 min 51 sec.
Meanwhile, Nepali riders stamped their
authority in the junior category, clinching the top three places in the race. Sanjeev
Thapa, improving on his third position in the first leg of the race, won the junior
category as he wheeled in his bike at 30 min 35 sec ahead of Manoj Shrestha (30 min 36
sec) and Anil Sthapit (31 min 11 sec).
Kim Ames of the US (38 min 03 sec) rode home
ahead of fellow American Caith Norten and Kyle Bates from Australia and four other riders
to win the women’s event.
Among school teams, Little Angels School once
again captured the pole position with the school’s ‘C’ team finishing ahead
of British School ‘A’ while LRI ‘À’ completed the race at third
place. There were 11 school teams each comprising of three riders.
In the 2-km wheelchair race for handicaps,
Mengar Sherpa came first, winning the race at 12 minutes while Deepak KC (14 min) and Amar
Roy (14 min 45 sec) finished second and third respectively.
The third and final leg of the race series,
organised by Himalayan Mountain Bikes, will be held in Lubhu , Lalitpur on November 24. |
