GivingBack is an initiative of the Sita Bhateja Charitable Trust and is dedicated to the cause of providing world-class cutting-edge spine surgeries irrespective of boundaries. The GivingBack program has been in existence since 2014 and has performed over 400 subsidised spine surgeries using cutting edge technology such as neuromonitoring, surgical navigation, microsurgery and minimally invasive surgery based purely on the merit of the case among others. GivingBack is dedicated to providing the highest quality of spine care with the most modern technology and making this technology available to its patients at a fraction of the cost. The GivingBack program is supported by a full team of specialists from various specialities such as neurosurgery, spine surgery, neuroanesthesia, physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

Runners and cyclists who are no strangers to injuries of various kinds understand the seriousness of a back injury and can empathize with the spirit of GivingBack. Therefore, Dr. Arvind Bhateja, who is a competitive masters’ cyclist himself, believes that the athletes’ community is a perfect ally for raising awareness and funds for the GivingBack program.

In 2021, Dr. Arvind Bhateja together with BikeyVenky of Bangalore Amateur Racing and Dipankar Paul, a friend of GivingBack, put together a plan to organize a Duathlon event to raise funds. This was the first of many events. GivingBack plans to hold a fundraiser event every year on the fourth Sunday of May and on the fourth Sunday of November.

Duathlon is a format that involves running as well as cycling. Since many athletes might not do both, a team relay format was introduced where one athlete can do the running while a second athlete can do the cycling.
Apart from Individual Duathlon, and Team Relay Duathlon, a 10km run only and 33.5km cycling only formats were added to encourage more participation from the running and the cycling communities.
Across the various formats of the duathlon, nearly 200 athletes registered and contributed to the cause of GivingBack in the overwhelming fashion that is so typical of the Bangalore cycling and running communities.

Athletes participating in the Individual Duathlon format rode 24.5km on the Old Madras Road (OMR), dropped off their cycles in a designated transition area and then ran 5km on a beautiful loop going through some lovely country roads.
In the Team Duathlon format, the cyclists rode 33.5km on the same OMR course while their running teammates ran two loops of the 5km course completing the required 10km.
Athletes of the Running only format ran the 10km along with the runners from the Team Duathlon format.
And finally, athletes in the Individual Time Trial format also rode the same 33.5km course on OMR.