What is Race Across India?

March 4, 2023

Race Across India is Asia’s longest-ever cycle race. It was accorded the Asian Ultracycling Championship by the World Ultracycling Association. It was kicked off recently from Srinagar in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

About Race Across India

The final destination of this first-of-its-kind race is Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, covering a distance of 3,655 kilometres over 12 states. As many as 29 cyclists have taken part in this race. Geeta Rao is the only female participant in this race. She is India’s first differently-abled Super Randonneur. Earlier she received a silver medal at the Para-Cycling Championship 2022. She lost her leg after suffering from polio at a young age.

What is ultracycling?

The ultracycling is event where the cyclists cover at least 200 km within at least six hours. Today, ultra cycling is one of the fast growing sport in the world. Apart from ultracycling there are three other cycling sports. They are road cycling, cyclocross, and mountain biking.

World Ultracycling Associaion

The World Ultracycling Association is a non-profit organization. It was founded in 1980. It is governed by the laws of State of Colorado. Though, the USA has a constitution, different states in the country have different constitution. For instance, there are 29 articles in Colarado constitution. There are seven articles in US constitution. There are 448 articles in the Indian Constitution.

Other similar events

The Race Across Russia was conducted in 2013. Race Across Europe was conducted in 1997. The rules of ultracycling in mountainous regions are different. For instance, the Race Across Alps was conducted for 540 km. Here the participants had to climb 540 km uphill! Till date this is considered as one of the toughest races in the world.

Observation

This is the first time the race is conducted in Jammu and Kashmir. This says that the changes being brought in the region have been successful. Three years after Article 370 has been scrapped in J&K, schools have been running without being shut due to hartals, employment rate is increasing, long standing government vacancies in the state are being filled slowly.

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