Srikanth Kidambi, the Indian badminton player and currently the highest ranked Indian men's player in the international circuit with a world ranking of 3, was present during the inauguration ceremony. He commented: "I am happy that more and more people are waking up to fitness. It is important to promote all types of sports and provide infrastructure support to the young."

Colin Wells, Deputy Head of Mission, British Deputy High Commission, felicitated the winners, saying; "The Cyclothon is a truly inspiring initiative to promote health and fitness amongst the youth and highlights the importance of environmental protection. India and the UK share close partnership in the areas of environment and pollution reduction."

Renewable energy source is the answer to fight climate change, elaborated Elsie Gabriel, who is a Climate Reality Mentor and founder of the Young Environmentalists.

``To create awareness that the youth have the power to help improve our environment we the Young Environmentalists joined hands with the IIT Techfest for the cyclothon. Without preaching, this is one interactive way to teach the youth about climate change and the green living habits we citizens can adopt in our daily lives. Do join our NGO for our next Cyclothon on Climate Change in mid December," added Gabriel.

Said Ram Krishna, student of IIT-Bombay, "This year taking a new social initiative, together with NGO Young Environmentalists and British Council, Techfest went green with each one of us can make our small yet significant contribution towards addressing the alarming issues of environment pollution."

Of course, Mumbai needs to make cycling paths compulsory rather than an option. "We can only have cycling paths all over the city if the MMRDA and the Government road departments carry out a mass inspection and mapping of all commuting routes to help the public switch to a renewable form of commuting," said Gabriel.