Salesh wins boys under - 19 event

Bernard Perera reporting from Nuwara Eliya

The third annual Rider Cyclo Cross 2005 started at the newly planned Mahagastota Estate yesterday morning with over 500 competitors facing the starters in different categories.

The event was conducted by National Mounting Biking Association of Sri Lanka with assistance from the Municipal Council Nuwara-Eliya and Associated Newspapers and Sri Lanka Rupavahini as media sponsors.

The most interesting events being the u-19 boys event which was won by Mohame Salesh. It was a close battle from the start but Salesh went ahead in the second lap and kept his lead until the finish. The second and third places too had a close finish between Sameera D. Kumara and H. M. Pradeep Prasanna Bandara.

This event also served as the trial to pick mountain bikers for the national pool.

The other event that caught the attention of the large gathering of spectators was the open event for women.

The u-19 event for women did not receive sufficient entries and the organiser had to join both events as an open event. W. K. Pushparani had better form won the event comfortably beating R. P. Nimesha Dilrukshi in to second place.

The kids event for under-10 too had a large number of participants ages ranging from six years upward. Rohan Resly Fernando a brother of a under-19 girls event winner on many occasions from Katana won the event.

S. M. Safith was a clear winner in the under-16 event where over 20 riders were seen in action. The riders made history when they rode the first 10 kilometres track yesterday.

The rain that came a little earlier halted the racing for a few hours. At the time of writing the main event, the open event was in progress.

All results will be published later.