new delhi nearly 5000 people many of them sporting masks woke up early on sunday to take part in a cyclothon touted as an environmentfriendly event but which ironically raised concerns about the impact on the health of the participants considering the capitals deteriorating air qualitythe event saksham pedal delhi was organised by petroleum conversation research association in association with the cycling federation of india organisers said the event would create awareness about finding a solution to the citys air pollutionthe cyclothon was flagged off from jawaharlal nehru stadium amid early winter chill minister of petroleum and natural gas and skill development entrepreneurship dharmendra pradhan said cycling for smaller distances could help reduce overreliance on fuelspradhan said prime minister narendra modi had made an appeal in his mann ki baat not to use diesel or petrol once a week cycling for smaller distances can help achieve that it is our duty to use fuel judiciously and make fuel conservation an integral part of our lifestylestressing that conservation was a collective responsibility he said it would be possible only when industries individual citizens organisations oil companies and the government shared the responsibility of petroleum conservationthe event saw participation in four different categories the elite category drew many nationallevel cyclists who had come down to the city just for the cyclothon after competing in a national championship in karnataka they covered five laps of 9km each from jawaharlal nehru stadium to india gate with satbir singh emerging the winner in the mens section followed by arvind pawar and krishna naikodiin the womens elite category covering 27km t manorama devi won the first prize whereas sonali chanu and amrita raghunathan came second and third respectivelythe 27km amateur category flagged off by actor farhan akhtar and cricketer munaf patel saw over 700 citizens from different age groups taking part this was followed by an open ride of 9km and a 5km green ride which was led by pradhan bjp delhi chief manoj tiwari and special cp traffic deepender pathakwhile some participants claimed that they had prepared for months for the event others said they had just come there to soak in the atmosphere several people were seen capturing the event on their mobile phones even as they cycledrishabh bajaj who came from gurgaon for the event said i prepared for a couple of days for the event but managed to perform quite well it was exciting to be part of such a programme many participants maintained that if the citys infrastructure could be tweaked to accommodate cyclists it could help reduce reliance on polluting vehiclessixtyyearold kanwardeep singh member of a cycling group from punjabi bagh said such programmes could create a passion for cycling among delhiites if we have such events on a regular basis cycling could pick up in a big way in the capital he said singh said the authorities should consider providing special lanes for cyclists as also traffic signals on the lines of many