Veteran road cyclist Russell Bell of Benaulim finished a creditable fourth in the Masters category of the recently concluded ‘Friendship Tour of Thailand’ cycle races.
Panaji: A total of 300 cyclists from all over the world took part in this event.Russell was part of an 11 member Spectrum Racing team from Bengaluru which took part in the gruelling five-day, five-stage race event. Russell came fourth in three races and third in the last race to earn a podium finish.In a press note, Russell said that the five stages comprised 17.9 kms, 120kms, 125 kms, 100kms and 95 kms to be completed on five consecutive days. Russell credits his team members, Vivek Bhateja, Shanker Jayaraman, Arvind Bhateja, Venky and Mohan Kumar for helping him secure a podium finish. The veteran cyclist said, “The terrain had steep climbs and descents and this coupled with high temperatures of 42 degrees celsius made racing extremely difficult.”
