Chandigarh 13 Jan 2019-The EVA ROS MTB Grand Finale, the first Mountain Biking Race of the Tricity was held in Shivalik Foothills on the outskirts of Chandigarh at the trails near Jayanti Village. Conducted by Riders of the Storm (ROS) a local mountain biking club in association with Ex Vivekiete Association. it was a first such mega event in mountain biking hosted by the City as more than 70 mountain bikers competed for a total prize money of 2.2 lakhs. The teams included the Hero MTB Team, Aravalli Trail Hunters from Gurgaon, MTB Team Bir Billing, MTB Team Manali, MTB Team Shimla, Cannondale Team, Btwin Team amongst others.

Some of the big names of MTB National Circuit like David Kumar, Shiven, Devendra Thakur, Akshit Gaur, Ashish Sherpa, Sunil Barongpa, Sandeep Madaan, Naman Vij amongst others attended this Season 2 Grand Finale of EVA ROS MTB

The track was a 5.8 km MTB Cross Country circuit that included some power climbs of extremely high gradient and some fast rocky descents cutting through the mountain slopes pushing the competitors to the edge and testing their endurance and concentration on the race totalling 42 kms. The competitors were seen descending hundreds of feet long descents on rocky loose trails of rounded stones posing a challenge to the competitors in terms of tyre grip and weight balance. The race also saw them cutting throught the forest trails and tight single track sections including some sudden drops of 10-15 feet. in all the race was a three hour affair testing the human endurance and pushing the human capabilities to the edge.

Men Elite (18 years to 39 years age) was won by :-

1) David Kumar (Hero Action Team, Shimla)

2) Shiven ( Team Cannondale)

3) Naman Vij (Bir Billing, H.P)

In the Junior Men (17 & under) category winners were:-

1) Ashish Sherpa (Hero Action Team, Shimla)

2) Madhav Dutta ( ROS, Chd)

3) Siddharth Thakur (Solan, H.P)

Masters (40+ Men) Category winners were:

1) Sunil Barongpa (Manali, H.P)

2)Ricky Sharma (ATH, Delhi )

3) Anil Kapila (ROS, Chd)

in the Womans Category winners were :

1) Sara Chaudhary (ROS, Chd)

2) Reet Kapoor ( ROS, Chd)

3) Gurleen Kaur( ATH, Delhi)

The Chief Guest for the event was Major General Vikram Dogra, the First Ironman from The Indian Army. Being a cycling enthusiast himself Major General Dogra was impressed seeing the level of competition in Mountain Biking and even participated in the race. He was all praises for the competitors and shared his experience of endurance in the Ironman competition and encouraged the youngsters to come forth and pick up such sports. He said these sports are still picking up in india and he hopes to see some great athletes being produced by India in the coming years.