The start of a new sports bike project was given in Frunzensky district, where the children's tournament "Pershy Rovar" (First Bike) was held.
The organizers started preparations a few months before the event. After all, there are 48 schools in the most densely populated city district, each of which delegated a team to the competition. There were 520 children in total. The chairman of Minsk City Executive Committee Vladimir Kukharev also arrived at the opening ceremony. According to him, cycling in Minsk is gaining momentum.
— Tens of thousands of citizens every day bike to work or just bike. The city is doing a lot to create good conditions for traffic. Organize new bike paths, build bike garages. It's great that this competition brought together so many participants! Wonderful weather and everyone is in a great mood, — said V. Kukharev.
The head of the city visited tracks, watched the starts, the emotions of children and their parents, talked with Natalia Tsilinskaya, the titled athlete, and now the Chairwoman of Belarusian Cycling Federation. The picture was pleasing to the eye. Along the tracks (three in total), support groups cheered for the races participants. It was crowded in the starting town as well. Here, competitions and a prize quest were held for children and adults. The performance of the guys from MinskTrial team, who showed mesmerizing stunts, jumped high on bicycles over a bar, the maximum height of which is 95 cm, was worth a lot.
— First of all, we wanted to make a holiday for children, — said the head of Frunzensky district administration, Sergey Shkrudnev. — As for the competition, today it was not athletes, but amateurs who went to the start. In memory of such a tournament, a small souvenir was prepared for everyone. We are pleased that 520 children participated in races and more than 1,000 people came as a support group. Everyone is happy, everyone is smiling, which means everything worked out.
The races were not without falls, breakdowns. This upset the young participants. But only for a while. After a pause, they told their parents or friends that they would train hard for the next tournament. And they will definitely win. We managed to talk with the winners. So, Natalya Filippovich from secondary school No. 185, who participated in 12–13 years old category, said that she regularly bikes with her brother.
— The season started about a month ago. We rode around the city, usefully spent our free time. I didn’t plan to win at the competitions — I wanted to see what the organizers would offer, to try my hand. I'm shocked that I won the qualification, semi-final and final, — said the schoolgirl.
Evgeny Dedul, a 10-grader from school No. 99, was also delighted. He admitted that the 200-meter track is very short for him. The interlocutor wished to race at a longer distance.
— I move a lot around the city on a bike — to school, to dance trainings, on business, for a ride. I even ride in winter. Therefore, I managed to show a good result, — said the guy.
Among the participants was Eva, the daughter of the titled cyclist Alexander Kuchinsky. She won the artistic cycling competition. The girl received the award from the hands of N. Tsilinskaya. Head of the Main Department of Sports and Tourism of Minsk City Executive Committee Maxim Voropai added that the competitions not only have a sports and physical education focus, but also teach children the road traffic rules.
— For the first time it turned out very nice, — assessed the event Aleksei Ivanov, director of Minsk Cycling Club. — We worked out the system of registration, refereeing. Looking past the competition, we want to get feedback: find out what the audience liked and what didn’t. Perhaps a day or two before the tournament, we should bring children to the track and give them time for a trial ride... In the next two months, we will hold similar competitions in four more districts of Minsk, and in September — in the remaining ones. After that, the city final will take place.
