The Tour of Nilgiris (TfN), an annual cycling expedition passing through the Western Ghats, has attracted a large number of foreign cyclists this year.
The eight-day expedition, which will be flagged off from Mysuru on December 9, will have 29 foreigners, among the 110 participants, who will pedal through the picturesque countryside of Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Last year, 17 foreign nationals had taken part in the expedition.
“There are seven cyclists from Denmark, four from the U.S., three each from Australia, Germany and the U.K., two each from Belgium and Canada, and one each from Austria, Greece, Malaysia, Phillipines and Poland,” said a press statement issued by RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F), which is organising the event.
Alexi Grewal, an Indian American, who won an Olympic gold in road cycling in 1984, is back as a volunteer in this edition after last year. The TfN 2018 will pass through Hassan, Kushalnagar, Sultan Bathery, Ooty, and Kalpetta before returning to Mysuru on December 16.
The largest contingent is from Mumbai with 27 cyclists, followed by Bengaluru with 20, Pune with 10, and Indore with six. There are three cyclists each from Chennai, Delhi, and Hyderabad, two from Goa, and one from Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Kolkata, Delhi and Vellore.
There will also be charity riders for the following organisations: Sita Bhateja Speciality Hospital, Bengaluru; Iksha Foundation, Bengaluru; Tons Valley Community Health Centre of Kalap Trust, Uttarakhand; Vidyodaya School, Gudalur; Kenneth Anderson Nature Society-Hosur, Tamil Nadu, and Aditya Mehta Foundation, Hyderabad.