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Haze disturbs Tour de Singkarak cyclists
Bike pack: Cyclists pass Simpang BIM Padangpariaman in West Sumatra during their first stage of the Tour de Singkarak international race on Saturday
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span class="inline inline-center">Bike pack: Cyclists pass Simpang BIM Padangpariaman in West Sumatra during their first stage of the Tour de Singkarak international race on Saturday. The first stage of the race stretched 163.3 kilometers, from Painan to Pariaman.(Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
The haze currently blanketing West Sumatra has drawn complaints from international participants in the 2015 Tour de Singkarak cycling race.
"The haze left us short of breath," said Mark John Lexer Galedo from the Philippines during the race on Monday as quoted by tempo.co.
He added that he was eventually able to overcome the issue by drinking more water, even winning the sprints to grab the green jersey from Iranian cyclist Hossein Askari.
According to Aiman Cahyadi from Indonesia, the haze that blanketed the third stage of the race, which stretches from Sijunjung regency to Dharmasraya regency, was thicker than the two previous stages and thus caused more disruption.
Up to 121 cyclists from 21 teams participated in the third stage of the Tour de Singkarak on Monday, which featured the longest day of riding in the race, covering 184.5 kilometers.
Head of the West Sumatra Environmental Center, Dharmasraya Rahmadian, said that the air quality in the region was indeed very unhealthy, reaching 375 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3) in places. (kes)(++++)
