City shows its athletic side

The eighth edition of Hyderabad Triathlon was held with over 1,700 participants signing up on Sunday. The event conducted by the Great Hyderabad Adventure Club (GHAC) and was held across three locations in the twin cities, the GMC Balyogi Gachibowli Stadium, Oakridge International School, Gachibowli and ICFAI Foundation of Higher Education, Shankarpally.

The day started at 5:30am as the participants of the tough ¾ Iron and ½ Iron category swam in the 50-metre swimming pools at GMC Balyogi and ICFAI Swimming Pools. The kids and novice event was held at Oakridge School.

The cycling and running course on the ISB road was challenging one, with some good climbs and quick descents and few portions of wet, patchy roads due to recent rains.

Of the 1,700 participants, this year’s triathlon had about 500 athletes who were from other metro cities of Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi.

The mini triathlon was targeted toward young kids of age 5 and above and consisted of 50 meters Swimming, 4 Km Cycling and 1 Km running. The Novice triathlon was targeted towards new entrants and involved 300 meters swimming, 8 km Cycling and 2 Kilometre Running.

The event had the support of the Cyberabad police for bandobast and traffic management, Sports Authority of Telangana Sate made the stadium and swimming pool arrangements.

Arrangements for medical help and support were done by Citizen Hospitals who took care of first aid and were ready for any emergencies. Support action teams provided water and energy drinks to the participants at points along the route. All finishers got a medal and a certificate.