8,000 ditch vehicles to celebrate car-free SoBo
An initiative to reclaim south Mumbai for pedestrians and cyclists got off to a great start on Sunday morning, with around 800 Mumbaikars ditching their vehicles to participate in a walkathon and a bike-a-thon.
Organizers, who flagged off the events at 8am, managed to keep vehicles off the 20-km stretch for the first few hours, after which a trickle of BEST buses and taxis began plying on the roads again.
While some turned up to show their support for the green cause, for others, it was a chance to get some exercise and fresh air. For a city always on the run, the prospect of biking 20 km on a Sunday morning seemed an ideal way to unwind after a hectic week at work. The event had its share of dazzle with big-ticket names such as actor Rahul Bose, industrialist Siddharth Mallya and director Abhinav Kashyap pledging their support.
However, the turnout was lower than expected. "We had almost 800 people participating in both the rallies, so it was a pretty good turnout, though we expected more than 1,500 people to show up," said Kalpesh Parekh, founder of the Greenmile Foundation, which along with the Baramati Welfare Organization, conducted the event. "The traffic police cooperated with us 100%. But since it's the first year, it was a learning curve for all of us involved. I am confident that we'll be able to spread the word much better next year and the event will be much better coordinated next year," he said.
The event ended at Bombay Gymkhana where the top 10 winners of the bike-a-thon and the first six of the walkathon were felicitated.
The second runner-up of the walkathon, Premkant Negi, who had travelled all the way from Ambernath to participate in Sunday's event, was thrilled with his win. "I won vouchers worth Rs 30,000. I think I am going to buy a top-gear bicycle with the prize money. What better way to spend the money than to use it to make a permanent lifestyle change?"
An initiative to reclaim south Mumbai for pedestrians and cyclists got off to a great start on Sunday morning, with around 800 Mumbaikars ditching their vehicles to participate in a walkathon and a bike-a-thon.
Organizers, who flagged off the events at 8am, managed to keep vehicles off the 20-km stretch for the first few hours, after which a trickle of BEST buses and taxis began plying on the roads again.
While some turned up to show their support for the green cause, for others, it was a chance to get some exercise and fresh air. For a city always on the run, the prospect of biking 20 km on a Sunday morning seemed an ideal way to unwind after a hectic week at work. The event had its share of dazzle with big-ticket names such as actor Rahul Bose, industrialist Siddharth Mallya and director Abhinav Kashyap pledging their support.
However, the turnout was lower than expected. "We had almost 800 people participating in both the rallies, so it was a pretty good turnout, though we expected more than 1,500 people to show up," said Kalpesh Parekh, founder of the Greenmile Foundation, which along with the Baramati Welfare Organization, conducted the event. "The traffic police cooperated with us 100%. But since it's the first year, it was a learning curve for all of us involved. I am confident that we'll be able to spread the word much better next year and the event will be much better coordinated next year," he said.
The event ended at Bombay Gymkhana where the top 10 winners of the bike-a-thon and the first six of the walkathon were felicitated.
The second runner-up of the walkathon, Premkant Negi, who had travelled all the way from Ambernath to participate in Sunday's event, was thrilled with his win. "I won vouchers worth Rs 30,000. I think I am going to buy a top-gear bicycle with the prize money. What better way to spend the money than to use it to make a permanent lifestyle change?"
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