PANGKALPINANG -- Dozens of children enthusiastically pushed the speed of their bicycles, snaking along the circuit route for around 200 meters until they reached the finish line. That's what the children did in the 2023 Balance Bike Fun Race competition held by the Tins Cycling Community (TCC) PT Timah Tbk in the GOR Area of ??the PT Timah Tbk Office, on Sunday (24/9/2023).
Wearing safety riding equipment, the children smoothly rode like a push bike. As is known, a Pushbike is a two-wheeled bicycle without pedals, without a chain, without a drive system, and without brakes. This bicycle is used for children ranging from 3 to 7 years old.
PT Timah's Tins Cycling Community (TCC) is holding the Balance Bike Fun Race 2023 competition in four categories, namely U5 Men's and Women's, U6 Men's and U7 Men's.
This is the first competition they have held, in the last three months TCC regularly held Tins Push Bike training which accommodated children to practice together every Saturday and Sunday at the PT Timah Tbk Head Office.
Chairman of the Tins Cycling Community, Donny Rusmawan, said that this competition was attended by 23 participants divided into four categories. This match commemorates the 47th anniversary of PT Timah Tbk and the 78th anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia.
"This competition is a forum for children who want to channel their talents for pushbikes. The participants are quite enthusiastic about taking part in this competition," he said.
According to Donny, they formed Tins Push Bike to accommodate children who wanted to practice together. The training is held every Saturday and Sunday at the PT Timah Tbk Head Office.
"It turned out that there was quite a lot of enthusiasm for practicing. At each practice, there were more than 20 children who attended. We are also open to the public, for children who want to practice, please join and there is no charge," said Donny.
He hopes that this event will not only accommodate children's hobbies, it will also be an opportunity to bring out the seeds of push bike athletes from Bangka Belitung.
"We hope that joint training and competitions like this can accommodate children who like pushbikes and also become a forum for creating talented young people who can represent Babel at national events," he hoped.
.jpeg)
Donny explained that the pushbike itself has many benefits for children, such as making it easier to learn to ride a bicycle, training them to balance physically and mentally, and continuing to form emotional closeness between children and their parents.
One of the participants in the 2023 Balance Bike Fun Race, Ringga Evano Priadi, said he was very happy to be able to take part in the race and practice cycling, which is his hobby.
"I enjoy training here and competing, you have to be fast to become champion," said this four-year-old child.
Vano's parents, Agus, said that they deliberately came from Belinyu to practice and take part in this competition. The reason is, he said, there are rarely events that can accommodate children to cycle like this.
"Every Saturday and Sunday my child comes to practice here, we live in Belinyu and because the child is enthusiastic, we parents support him. Like today he can take part in the competition," he said.
He hopes that competitions like this will be held more often so that there will be more activities for children to participate in.
"There are many benefits from this, children move physically so they often use gadgets again," he said.
.jpeg)
Likewise, Azura Sashi Kirana (4) also admitted that she was happy to be able to hone her skills in this competition.
"We practiced first before competing on this bicycle. Uncle taught us the exercises from TCC, we practiced at home too," She said.
Icha, Azura's parents, said that their child was quite enthusiastic about taking part in this competition.
"The children are happy, the parents are also happy. Because events like this are still rare in Pangkalpinang and there are many people interested. So having a community that organizes this can accommodate children who want to take part," She said. (*)
