KUCHING: The rain that fell during the last two laps of the mass start cycling race in both the individual and team categories did not dampen the athletes’ spirits to finish the race.
Facing this challenge, Muhamad Iqbal Daniel Mohd Nawawi emerged as the gold medal winner for the individual event at the 21st Malaysia Games (Sukma).
The rider from Terengganu recorded a time of 3 hours 39 minutes and 16 seconds, forcing the rider from Johor to take second place. Muhammad Faheem Razen M Zaini, who was close behind, settled for the silver medal.
The rider from the Federal Territory, Ren Bao Tsen, took bronze with a time of 3 hours 39 minutes and 18 seconds.
In the team event, Terengganu recorded a total time of 10 hours 59 minutes and 25 seconds, earning them the gold medal.
Johor and the Federal Territory won silver and bronze, respectively, with total times of 11 hours and 58 minutes and 11 hours and 1 minute.
Sarawak’s Adib Andhar Andan finished in seventh place with a time of 3 hours 40 minutes and 51 seconds.
Meanwhile, Sarawak recorded a time of 11 hours 2 minutes and 33 seconds in the team event, placing them in ninth place.
A total of 79 riders participated in the event, and 15 participants did not finish the race.
The race, which started at 9am, covered a distance of 146.4km (eight laps) along Jalan Pehin Sri Adenan Satem.