Junagadh News - Girnar Mountaineering Competition 2010

A total of 1,795 entries have been received from 16 districts across the state for the State-Level Girnar Mountaineering Competition to be held on January 4 next year.

It is to be followed by the national-level Girnar Mountaineering Competition on February 1.

The competition, which is organized every year by the state’s Youth, Sports and Cultural department, has support of the Junagadh(Saurastra) district administration, which is now pooling in its resources to remove the last-minute glitches, if any.

Out of a total 1,795 entries received so far, majority have come in from Junagadh (1,365), followed by Rajkot (161), Jamnagar (81), Amreli (67), Porbandar (28), Gandhinagar (24), Kutch (16), Surendranagar and Dahod (14 each), Valsad (9), Sabarkantha (6), Panchmahals (5), Bhavnagar (2), and one entry each from Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Kheda districts.

Dev Kumar Aambaliya, coordinator of the competition and deputy mamalatdar with the state Revenue department, said: “Out of the total entries received so far, 1,448 are under the men’s category, and the remaining 347 in the women’s category.”

He also said that a record of 55.33 minutes had been established in the men’s group in last year’s competition, which involved a total of 4,862 steps.

The women’s group on the other hand had set a record of 35.15 minutes last year in which they had to take a total of 2,200 steps.

“We are trying for a live telecast and have also conducted a survey in this regard. The competition is mainly aimed at providing thrill and adventure to the youth along with giving them a national-level exposure,” he added.

Aambaliya further said that the Girnar Mount Climbing Competition is unique in its own way with no such competition being organised anywhere else across the country.