24-HOUR INTERNATIONAL CYCLE RACE TO QUALIFY FOR RAAM

Tour de France stage winner Jan Bakelants from Belgium and UCI (International Cycling Union) Pro Race winner Piotr Havik from the Netherlands will headline the sixth edition of ‘Race The Pearl’ 24-hour international cycle race.

Riders from the USA, UK, Australia, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, India and Sri Lanka will aim to cover a distance of 600 kilometres from the north to south of the island within 24 hours in this spectacular endurance race.

The race will be flagged off from Point Pedro at dawn on October 28 and finish at Dikwella 24 hours later, on October 29.

The route in Sri Lanka connects 100 cities and towns over 100,000 spectators along the route bringing the much needed destination tourism value to Sri Lanka.

Srinivas Gokulanathan who was the first Indian to complete Race Across America (RAAM), is among the celebrity riders in the race. There will also be female riders from India and Sri Lanka.

“I am a little bit nervous. I think that’s a good thing,” said Havik addressing a press conference barely three hours after landing in Sri Lanka.

“I’m looking forward to this race, to go across Sri Lanka,” said Bakelants, winner of Stages 2 and 3 of Tour De France in 2013.

“We are raising awareness for the Liv Foundation which helps Sri Lanka children get better education if they don’t get it. Coming from engineering background, it gives me different perspective from how I was living my cycling career to look at technical aspects of what I can do,” added Bakelants.

Agnes Safford from the USA, who is living in Sri Lanka for the last five years, will be riding for the fourth time this year. “The first time I complete in 36 hours partnering Asitha. The second time I did a solo run for 28 hours. Last year was an amazing race. I rode for 393km and fell asleep on my bicycle,” she recalled.

Race The Pearl will have nearly 65 riders cycling from the northern tip of Point Pedro to the southern tip of Dondra in Sri Lanka.

Race Director and Organiser of Race The Pearl Yasas Hewage said that 24 riders will be cycling continuously in pursuit of the RAAM qualification. “Some others will participate in a relay, racing in five phases in groups or as individuals,” he said.

Given that the route takes riders across both urban and rural terrain, riders also add value to rural economies with micro and small and medium establishments by engaging with business owners along the way and interacting with them.

Hewage reiterated that Race The Pearl is the ideal brand marketing platform to promote sports tourism in Sri Lanka. “This race has continued uninterrupted during the last three years,” he said.

The Race is organised by Spinner Cycling and partnered by Jetwing Hotels as Gold Sponsor. MAS Holdings innovated the Rider Jersey, Dikwella Hotel & Browns Hotel Group are the Finish Line Partner with Sol Fitness Resorts India connecting the two countries. Liv Foundation also joins in as a partner.