GILGIT: The three-day cycle race ‘Tour de Khunjerab 2018’ on Karakoram Highway will start from Gilgit city on Friday (today).

The race will culminate on Sunday at Khunjerab Pass, which is the highest paved international border between Pakistan and China at an altitude of 15,300 feet. The cyclists will cover a distance of 500 kilometres. The event is being organised by the Gilgit-Baltistan government in collaboration with Pakistan Cycling Federation to promote tourism in the region.

The race will start from Bab-i-Gilgit and after covering a distance of 73 kilometres, the participants will spend the night at Rakaposhi viewpoint in Nagar district. The cyclists will spend the second night in Sust, Upper Hunza. On Sunday, they will proceed to Khunjerab Pass and the race will conclude the same day.

After reaching Khunjerab Pass, the cyclists would be brought to Karimabad in vehicles.

The concluding ceremony will be held in Karimabad on Monday wherein the participants of the race will be given local gifts and the winners will get certificates and prizes.

The people, who want to be part of the event, will be allowed to start their journey behind the cyclists after few minutes.

Iqbal Hussian, the tourism director of the region, told Dawn that arrangements regarding security, health, environmental management and traffic plan were finalised for the race.

He said that 11 teams comprising 71 cyclists belonging to all the four provinces of the country, a team from Afghanistan and once cyclist each from Switzerland and the United States would participate in the event. Meanwhile, a member of Islamabad team received head injuries on Thursday after he fell down from the cycle during practice.

The injured cyclist was identified as Asad, 24.The local rescue teams shifted him to district headquarters hospital in Gilgit. Later, he was shifted to Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2018