Being declared champion generally makes one leap with
joy but that was not the case at Cyclothon-2015 at the Sabarmati riverfront on
Sunday. Bangalore resident Hari Menon had a good ride in the cold Ahmedabad
morning and touched the finishing line a good two seconds ahead of the next
cyclist in the 100-km race for men over 45 years. Yet to his shock he was
declared third prize winner. An avid cyclist, Menon had used his Garmin watch
to time himself and it showed he had completed the 100-km stretch in » 2hr
59min 24sec.
Yet Bomy Jagirdar was declared the winner. A
perplexed Jagirdar declared on the dais: “I am not the winner. Hari is the
winner... I was two seconds behind him.“ Yet AMC officials overlooked the
Navsari resident's honest admission and went ahead with the announcement.
This exemplified the confusion galore at the third
edition of Sabarmati Cyclothon. There were several other glitches, most of them
being the result of AMC not bothering to take inputs from Cycling Federation of
India though its officials were at hand.
Another major problem was the race being flagged off
in darkness resulting in dozens of participants falling down and injuring
themselves, as cycling federation officials' advice were not sought.
“I was told that there was a problem in one category
and officials were sorting it out. There were no problems in the rest of the
events,“ said Municipal Commissioner D Thara.
“We had checked all the lights and there was no
problem. The only thing is there should be light and it was there.But next time
we will be more careful and we will certainly take their inputs too,“ she said.
FAULTY CLOCKING AMC
used RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device)
instead of transponders to clock riders. “RFID is very cheap compared to
transponders. If five people touch finishing line with a difference of seconds,
RFID will show their names alphabetically which will do injustice to the racer who
comes first,“ said Singh.
“Transponders are costly but they calculate even
micro seconds and the results are on the basis of the time taken to complete
the race, not names according to alphabet. We use transponders for such events
everywhere,“ he said. The transponders are fixed on cycles and sensors read
them.
About 80 per cent of the participants didn't receive
message from AMC about their finishing time. This created confusion among
riders as several cyclists expressed their dissatisfaction over the
announcement of winners.
Deepali Joshi, a resident of Pune who took part in
the cycle race, said: “The woman who was behind me has been given third prize
and my name was not mentioned. This is unbelievable! The process is faulty for
sure,“ Joshi said.
IN THE DARKNESS
The sun rose at 7.23 am on Sunday in Ahmedabad, but
the race was flagged off at 6.18 am when it was still dark. The decision, said
Singh, was in sharp contrast to the standard practice across the world. Unable
to see the track in dark, about 70 cyclists fell off on track at different
places.
Parma Jain injured himself near Commerce sixroads as
he could not see potholes on the road. “There was no proper light. I could not
see a pothole and lost my balance,“ said the 53-year-old. “The cyclists have to
bend while cycling.Their eyes are on road and they need enough light,“ Singh
pointed out.
“This is the first race where all categories were
flagged off at the same time. As all participants try to push their way out,
the situation can lead to crashes,“ said Singh. Ajay Pandey, who works with
IIMA, participated in Dream Run category. But his dream crashed when he fell
off near Mithakhali and injured his left hand.
BUMPY START
As AMC didn't want to take a chance with accuracy in
timings, it installed “timing mat“ on track and attached chips to participants'
numberplates.While the “accuracy of timing“ courted controversy, the mats which
were structured like bumps jolted the participants.According to experts, the
bumps were constructed in an unscientific way, ignoring the guidelines of CFI.
They were more than three-inch-high with sudden ups and downs which made the
spot accidentprone.
“Many cyclists' glasses and water bottles fell down
while crossing the mats. Riders who were behind us rammed our cycles as the mat
slowed down our speed,“ said 17-year-old Bhavesh Vachheta.
“The bumps that are designed here are used in racing,
and not for cycling. It is unscientific,“ said Anindya Dasgupta, former
president of CFI.
CAMERAS' KARNAMA AMC's
insistence for accuracy of timing made it install
cameras at various places to record correct timings if “timing mats“ failed to
record the difference of micro seconds.
“Each camera has the capacity to divide the timing
into clips of seconds. Hence, even if officials standing at starting line and
finishing line fail to write the number, the cameras can easily help us gauge
speed and timing of contestants,“ said Vishal Mehta, a member of the technical
team.
But again AMC flouted the CFI guidelines. In events
like this where thousands of people participate, there was a need for
micro-second recognising camera. “AMC needed to install photo finish cameras.
But it installed only SLR cameras which can't segregate micro-second clips,“
added Dasgupta.
Moreover, CFI had instructed the administrator to
advise riders to place the number tables with chips to their right side.
“However, a majority of the cyclists kept it on the wrong side, apparently
because they were not told to do so. What can we do if our instructions are not
followed?“ he asked. In fact, even the size of the numberplates was not
designed according to CFI specifications.
CFI Secretary General Onkar Singh arrived at
Sabarmati riverfront at 6.05 am, soon after Urban Housing and Health Minister
Sankar Chaudhary made his entry. But Singh was not greeted by the corporation
officials. He was not even invited on the dais where dignitaries were sitting.
Singh was taken to dais only when a CFI official
brought this to the notice of AMC men. But even during the welcome speech,
Singh's presence was overlooked. He left the place unnoticed as soon as the
race began.
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