ICR on ECR : Cycling Race at Chennai

This race is conducted by a fantastic group called the Schools for India in association with the Cycling federation of India. This event is aimed to capture the attention of corporate bodies and individuals to participate in the commencement of the Pilot Project.

Schools of India is a non-profit body whose noble objective is to build 6000 schools by the year 2020 across the country, to provide standardized infrastructure to the poor in rural India.

See the guy below? Read on.

We got to meet him in an interesting way. Last month, me and two friends did a Chennai to Pondicherry cycling trip. Half way through, we stopped at a small roadside hotel for lunch. While we were having lunch, we noticed a car stop a further distance away and a guy walked towards us. The cycles parked on the roadside caught his eye.

He asked us why we are cycling for and I half-joked that we are practicing for this international race coming up soon. Little did I realize that I’m actually talking to the man who is the brainchild of this event. Meet Venkatesh, the affable soft spoken guy. I had heard about him before and about his ambitious altruistic plans. I, infact, wanted to meet up with him. And lo, here he is sitting right in front of us.

We didn’t get to talk much as he was rushing to Pondy to get things organized for the race. But I promised myself that I should get to meet him in detail and know more about his Schools for India plans. Very rarely do we get guys like him around. He almost reminds me of the Shah Rukh Khan character in Swades.

Now, back to the race. There are three varieties. The first is a 5km race for school students. The second is a 32 kms race for corporates from VGP to Mahabalipuram. The third and the important one is for amateurs and professionals which is a 150 kms race from VGP to Pondicherry.

Click here to read more about ICR on ECR.