14th Hero MTB Himalaya
​The 14th Hero MTB Himalaya Is All Set To kickoff From Shimla
Press Release / 06.09.2018
The annual cross country multi-stage mountain biking race organized by Himalayan Adventure Sports & Tourism Promotion Association​ (HASTPA), Himachal Tourism and Hero Cycles will be organized from 27th September to 6th October 2017.
The route for 14th edition of its race, the oldest and touted to be the toughest in Asia, the 8 stage mountain biking challenge will begin from Shimla on 27th September 2018 and continue until 6th October 2018 to Dharamshala. The riders will advance from Erstwhile British capital-Shimla to the land of His Holiness, Dalai Lama- Dharamshala traveling from the Shivaliks to the mighty Dhauladhars, traversing 4 districts of Himachal Pradesh and crossing two ferocious rivers of the Himalayas- Beas and Satluj. The Shivaliks formed by tertiary deposits of the outer Himalayas are the southern geologically youngest east-west mountain chain of Himalayas.
The Dhauladhars feature major passes across the range like the Indradhar pass and the Rupin pass. Dharamshala is the closest tourist town from Dhauladhars also known to be the home to the Central Tibetan Administration and Dalai Lama's residence. Shimla and Dharamshala are soon going to be Himachal Pradesh's smart cities are the venues for the opening and closing ceremonies.
The race will also be touching the boundaries of the Great Himalayan National Park which is one of the biggest national parks in India and an UNESCO world heritage site and is located in the Kullu region. Bir-Billing, known to be the world's second highest point for paragliding will also feature along the race route. The Race is considered to be one of the toughest of all other cross country races around the world. This year's race spans along 8 stages with a total of 650 kilometers and features an elevation gain of 16,000 meters, covering 60-90 kilometers every day. It is a scenic route with the Himalayan beauty at its best and the team has worked hard to add some super new and previously unseen stretches to the route this year.
Major towns near the race route will be Shimla- Gadagufar- Narkanda- Luri- Swad- Jalhori- Shatadhar- Gadagushaini- Jhanjeli- Mandi- Barot,Bir, Palampur and Dharamshala. The race tracks will be tarmac, broken gravel, rocks, mud, and sand. The highest point of the race is Shatadhar pass at a height of 3100 meters. The race has received a participation of 72 riders from more than 15 countries across 5 categories.
This year also, HASTPA which had introduced a interesting short prologue to the race, around the mall and ridge shimla which will take place on 27th (World tourism day) evening to decide the seeding of the riders and also to showcase the event to the world from the historic ridge . The competition has been fiercely building up over the years with the race gaining popularity around the region.
The race is being organized with the administrative and financial support of the department of tourism govt of himachal Pradesh and Hero Cycles the largest manufacturers of bicycles in India and the world .
Incredible India, Ministry of tourism ,GOI has also extended its support to the race and will be promoting it across its offices and channels in India and overseas.
“The event has drawn big names from the International cycling fraternity in its earlier editions. We are happy to see an increased participation of Professional riders from across the world . Portugal, Germany, South Africa and Spain are expected to be front running countries in participation numbers. The vision with which we started this initiative 14 years back to promote the Indian Himalayas and our state for mountain biking, the world largest and most popular eco friendly adventure sport is slowly realizing seeing the popularity of the event around the world and the advent of some very good riders from the region who are making a mark nationally “ ,said” Mohit Sood president Hastpa “
Adventure tourism has a lot of scope in our beautiful hill state ...Mountain cycling is one of the biggest tourism activities globally and we want to promote our state for the same to develop a healthy ecotourism economy ..... MTB Himalaya is an event that has over the years attracted global cyclists and showcases the natural wealth of the sport ... we are fully supporting it for this edition ...”said, Ram Subag Singh additional chief secretary govt of hp”.
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