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By APD writer Maverick
BALI, Feb. 4 (APD) — The 2018 Gran Fondo New York (GFNY) Bali Series concluded on Sunday with Indonesian and Singaporean cyclists managed to prevail in two groups contended in the race, Gran Fondo and Medio Fondo.
Indonesian cyclist Juwanto convincingly won the more competitive group of Gran Fondo as he finished the race five minutes earlier than the runner up cyclist.
The 41 year-old Indonesian cyclist Juwanto finished in 4 hours 7 minutes and 5 seconds, qualifying him to seize trophy of GFNY prestigious group in the race held in Bali that passed through 142 kilometer of tough route that crossed over fascinating tourism spots in the resort island.
Expressed his happiness to win the international cycling race for the first, Juwanto said that he had undergone hard training program in a month prior to the race in Bali.
“I pushed myself to cycle three hours before I went to my work place. Summing it up, I probably gone 600 kilometers every week with my training method,” Juwanto said after received the championing trophy in the race here.
He said that the route that he chose in his spartan training program was in the hilly terrain near Central Java province capital of Semarang.
He added that winning the 2018 GFNY Bali Series was his first both in international race and a long-distance bicycle race with over 100 kilometer of route.
He said that before taking part in the current race, he often took part in several domestic cycling race that only contended 20 to 30 kilometer of routes.
The runner up in Gran Fondo group was also an Indonesian cyclist, Aryanto Nugroho, who finished the race in 4 hours and 13 minutes.
A somewhat amazing reality occurred in the Medio Fondo group as it was won by a Singaporean couple Ernest Heng and Colleen Ang who fished in the first and second positions.
The husband, Ernest Heng finished the race group that took a route of 80 kilometer with time record of 2 hours 56 minutes and 29 seconds. Meanwhile, the wife Colleen Ang finished three minutes later.
The first GFNY race hosted by Bali started on early morning at 06.00 a.m. local time with start and finish lines were set in Bali’s bustling coastal tourism area of Sanur, around 30 minute drive from Bali province’s capital of Denpasar.
The race in Bali makes Indonesia hosted GFNY series three times since 2016, with the previous two were held in Bali’s neighboring island of Lombok. The one in 2016 has earmarked Indonesia as the first Asian country to host GFNY global cycling marathon series.
GFNY Indonesia co-organizer Axel Moeller said on Saturday that another GFNY series has been scheduled in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province with location picked by GFNY was the Samosir island, which is uniquely located in the middle of the province’s landmark destination of Lake Toba.
The 2018 GFNY Bali Series was participated by over 1,400 domestic and international cyclists from 32 countries and regions among others from Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, China, China’s Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, France, South Africa, Mexico, Thailand and Britain.
The series in Bali kicks start the 2018 GFNY series themed “Be A Pro For A Day”, with following series were already scheduled in Germany, France, Portugal, Mexico, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Brazil among others this year.
The top 10 percent of prevailing cyclists in all age groups would be qualified for a front corral start at the GFNY World Championship slated for May 20, 2018 in New York, the United States.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
