Pune cyclist creates record, paddles 480km Leh-Manali stretch in 55 hours and 13 minutes

Mother of two children, Preeti Maske, created an ultra cycling world record by becoming the first woman to cycle solo from Leh to Manali in 55 hours and 13 minutes.

Leh: Pune's Preeti Maske, a mother of two children, created an ultra cycling world record by becoming the first woman to cycle solo from Leh to Manali in 55 hours and 13 minutes. Officials claimed the 45-year-old has fulfilled the requirements of the Guinness World Records after covering the 480km stretch. She holds the record for the fastest woman cyclist on the Golden Quadrilateral comprising a distance of 6,000 kilometers, they said.

Expressing happiness about her feat, Preeti said age is no barrier to exploring one's passion. Preeti said, "To overcome illness, I started cycling at the age of 40. If I can overcome my fears, then any woman can." Preeti started the ride on June 22. Preeti was flagged off by Border Roads Organization (BRO) from Leh at 0600 hours by Brigadier Gaurav Karki, Chief Engineer BRO at Leh, the officials said.

At Manali she finished the ride at 1:13 pm on June 24 in the presence of Col. Shabarish Vachali, Commander, BRO. Experts said the route was very tough with a 8,000m elevation gain. Guinness World Record had given her a window of 60 hours to complete this challenge, they said. "Twice I had to take oxygen enroute due to breathlessness at high passes", said Preeti. Preeti holds several records in long-distance cycling.

Anand Kansal, her Crew member said, "Preeti had to cycle in harsh varying climate on all the high altitude passes fighting the sun, strong head winds, snowfall and freezing temperatures." Kansal said that this couldn't have been possible with the support of BRO which had deployed two support vehicles with a satellite phone and medical assistant. (PTI)