CYCLING EVENT MAKES BIG SPLASH
542 cyclists took part in ride despite morning rain
RAIN failed to dampen the spirit of 542 cyclists from across the country and around the world, who converged here for the Kuantan Port Fun Ride 2017 on Saturday.
The road was wet with rain when the cyclists — astride mountain bikes, road bikes, fixed gear bikes and a variety of others — were flagged off from Wisma KPC at Kuantan Port at 8am.
The cyclists — a few solo ones, and many with fellow enthusiast friends — rode for 40km through multiple sections of Balok before heading back to Wisma KPC at 10.30am, just as the rain gave way to a cool, post-rain atmosphere.
Among the participants were Kuantan Port Corporation (KPC) general manager (operations) Mazlim Husin, who has been an ardent cyclist for 15 years.
After arriving at the finishing line, he expressed satisfaction and gratitude over the number of cyclists who participated in the event — a first to be held by KPC.
“The objective of this programme is to promote a healthy lifestyle,” he said.
“Fitness is very important, even at the workplace, where good health boosts productivity and personal wellbeing,” he said.
Mazlim said the programme helped participants witness the huge improvements in environmental cleanliness achieved around and outside the port area since the imposition of a moratorium on bauxite-mining in the state in January last year.
“We chose the ‘Fun Ride’ programme to give members of the public, especially cycling enthusiasts, access to the inner area of the port and the development here.
“The programme serves as an eye-opener for participants on the importance of preserving the environment. They even get to cycle through areas here and see for themselves the clean environment achieved (since the postbauxite moratorium clean-up).”
Mazlim said the area was heavily affected by bauxite mining in the past, but that KPC cooperated with the government to clean up the site.
He also said environmental preservation played a role in maintaining sustainable community living near the rapidly-developing industrial area here, which hosts a cluster of petrochemical companies.
“The community here will grow bigger in tandem with the flow of investments into this area in the next few years,” Mazlim said, adding that environmental preservation would play a role in sustaining the community and the industry here.
He said the programme even succeeded in pulling in two cycling enthusiasts from overseas, and he believed that more participants from abroad would enter similar programmes in the future.
“The programme is also a way to strengthen relations between KPC and the community,” he said.