Sports

The Auroville women’s ultimate frisbee team, better known as Rhino Ultimate, has been around for almost a decade, and is the oldest women’s ultimate frisbee team in India.

The second year version of the Auroville Cyclothon was flagged off on March 2. A total of 294 participants from Auroville, Pondicherry, Chidambaram, Mayiladuthurai, Bangalore, and Chennai had a choice of cycling 100 km, 50 km or 25 km.

A unique race unfolds in Auroville's bioregion. Forget stopwatches and podiums; these victories are measured in triumphant smiles, forged on dusty tracks and etched in defiance of age and societal norms.

Selvi, a teacher at Last School, grew up in Auroville. Her studies in political science took her to Chennai, but it's her frisbee prowess as part of India's national Ultimate Frisbee team, that became her ticket to travel the world.

A couple of months ago, a poster went up on Auroville notice boards advertising scuba diving lessons offered by ex-Special Forces soldiers of the Indian Army.

It’s busy times for Auroville athletes in the swim and surf world! While the Indian Open of Surfing was going on in Mangalore with Aurovilian participants Perceval, Dylan and Samai, a lifesaving and swimming event was taking place in Mumbai which also included young Aurovilians.

Barefoot running has been gaining popularity slowly but surely in Auroville. In the early days, almost every runner was a barefoot runner because sports shoes were simply not available.

As part of Auroville’s integral approach to education, sports plays a large role in our lives. Different programmes in Cripa, Certitude, Pitanga, La Piscine, Dehashakti and New Creation Sports Ground support physical education from a young age with the aim of promoting sportsmanship as well as athleticism.

In a homely rustic workshop opposite Svedam, Luca and Ami are diligently working on a sleek-looking racing motorbike. This one is a Yamaha model, and they are getting it ready for the racing motorbike near Chennai, where Ami regularly competes against two dozen other racers.

Juan and Samai, the brothers who started the surf school in Auroville, arrived in 1995 at the ages of 11 and 10 respectively. Within a year’s time, they were introduced to the surfing world by the Auroville surfing pioneers, André, Patrick, Jacky, and Andy.

From February 2nd to 8th 2015, the second Pondicherry Equestrian Challenge (PEC) was hosted at Red Earth Riding School, Brihaspati, Auroville.

Auroville’s eighth marathon took place on February 8th 2015. Around 3,500 people ran the winding dirt trails through Auroville’s forests – the full marathon of 42.195 kilometres, the half marathon of 21 kilometres, the 10K marathon, or, for children and their parents, the shorter run of 5 kilometres.