‘Kimbula Race’ a cycling event with a difference during pandemic
The 'Kimbula Race' in progress
Flagging off as a fun idea, the inaugural ‘Kimbula Race’, inspired by the fact that the race is held in Kumbulawala (Crocodile Swamp), was held on Thursday, where competitors completed a distance of 50 kilometres through a course designed for five laps. The race began shortly after dawn, around 6.15am and ended before the cutoff time of 8.00am.
The interest for the race, where fun played a major part, was equally contested by professional cyclists as well as amateur riders of different age categories. The ‘Kimbula Race was a brainchild of Yasas Hewage, the mastermind of the successful global franchise Ironman 70.3 Triathlon and Spinner, a hub where cycling is hugely promoted through sales of state-of-the-art cycles and sharing knowledge about its maintenance aspects.
Explaining the objective behind the venture, Hewage said that ‘Kimbula Race’ was a simple contribution to promote simple bicycle race at the start of the year and turn it into an annual event.
“This is a criterium (Crit) race, which is generally held in a looped circuit of few kilometres for a period of one to two hours. Crit races are short, fast and full of action. What better way to conduct an event with the present pandemic situation,” said Hewage.
But the ‘Kimbula Race’ does not come as any other ‘simple’ cycle race that’s held around the country. Hewage and his team has been studying the global development in cycling and coronavirus and observed on the possibilities to hold a race after setting proper organising protocols.
“Kimbula Race is about bringing back sporting activities in a context where it’s a challenge to do it. For that we studied the world and followed all the protocols to figure out to do something in Sri Lanka, where it will be relevant to us”.
Hewage further explained on the organising challenges they had to conquer before drawing up a simple plan that would help hold a cycling event without lapses. For that the organisers made sure registrations are done well in advance and limited the number of participants. Registrations were closed 10 days prior to the event, which gave the organisers ample time to monitor the background of the participants and the progress and health situation areas they come from. In addition they had to make all participants self-declare any risks they go through prior to the race.
“The race had that much of interest. There were 150 more waiting to enter but we had set a protocol and we had to stick by it. We had to think of all aspects and make sure everything is placed accordingly,” he stated.
Hewage, an experienced campaigner who had organised previous events such as Ironman 70.3, Race the Pearl and Race Around the Pearl, was a banker of 37 when he decided to quit his job and put all his time and effort in promoting cycling. With previous successes, Hewage and Spinner had the partnership of Oxypura, 3M and Softlogic Life in making the inaugural Kimbula Race an event that will be anticipated annually. He also hinted of possibilities of expanding the event further with the success of the first installation.
“This is a simple race, so why not twice a year. This is easy, we can repeat it more. This is visibility for the future cyclists. This could also go island wide, but ‘Kimbula Race’ and Spinner will be the hub.”