Mangaluru, Jan 10, 2017: In an effort to build a good relation between motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, Mangalore Bicycle Club (MbC) celebrated 16th Car Free Day and a traffic awareness ride on Jan 7, Saturday.
Arun Chakravarty, IGP (ISD), Bhushan Gulabrao Borase, SP, and K M Shantaraju, and Sanjiv M Patil, deputy commissioners of police took part in the event, which also aimed at bringing disciple and safe driving attitude among motorists.
Over 40 MbC members rode from Mangaluru City Corporation head office at Lalbagh at 6am to the helipad at Maryhill, via MG Road, Bunts Hostel, Jyoti, Town Hall, PVS and KPT. Following the ride, the club felicitated the winners and qualifiers of its two unique initiatives last year — Calorie burning challenge (November 2016) and climbing challenge (December 2016).
Trophies and certificates were handed over to Masood Teekay, Srikantharaja, Zahir Manipady, Ganesh Nayak, Hariprasad, Mukesh Rao and Anand Prabhu and the qualifiers Irfan Sheikh, Achinthya Rao, Joel Fernandes, Murli Shanker, Nagraj Shetty, Dijaraj Nair, Subodh Rai, Ram Rathan Naik, Dhanraj Karkera, Shivavand Rao, Madhukar S M, Sunil Mendes, Harshavardhana, Philip, Ranganath Bhat, Venu Vinod, Anil Sastry, Vinod Prabhu, Reny Dsilva, Gaurav Prabhu, Shawn Patrao, Kethan Kevala
MbC also distributed ICE ID (In case of emergency identification) bands to all winners and qualifiers, to ensure their safety, especially when riding alone.
The bands have emergency contact details of the riders, as well as other personal information such as blood group and age. The club also announced the launch of the ICE ID bands to all registered members of the club at a subsidized rate.
On the occasion, Dijaraj Nair, joint secretary of the club, announced another initiative — MbC Bicycle Academy, which will be spearheaded by Sunil Mendes. The first module of Bicycle Academy is scheduled on January 14. It is open to all registered members of MbC as membership benefit.