Curvy roads thrill Monsoon rallyists

Sports, adventure and travel! The enthusiastic contestants of the third ‘Apollo presents Mahindra Monsoon Challenge’ Time Speed Distance Rally (TSD), had all reasons to be a part of the game.

The rally teams reached Mangalore on Friday night, after covering a distance of 460 kms on the land starting from Bangalore on Thursday evening. The rally was flagged off at Bangalore on Thursday evening by Fisheries, Youth Service and Sports Minister K Abhayachandra Jain. The teams visited Shravanabelagola, Coorg and other popular tourist spots on the way and at the end of the day, took a halt in Mangalore for a night.

Sharing the experiences, India Motor Sports Club Secretary and Conductor of the rally Ashwin told that the rally which is a tourism promotion initiative of ‘Mahindra Adventure’ is the biggest Time, Speed Distance (TSD) rally, aiming to cover a distance of 1200 kms. The rally is being conducted in various categories namely Professional, Novice, Corporate (for company professionals), all -ladies, Couple, Veterans ( for senior citizen) and so on. “The participants will have an opportunity to visit historical and tourist spots in their course of the rally. There are altogether 36 teams, each comprising of a driver and co-driver. The coordinators keep in touch with the teams to tackle emergency situations possibly coming on the way. The doctors team is deployed to face delicate situations, if any. The total prize amount is Rs 13 lakh and there will be separate awards in each category, he added.

Rallyists speak

Sonu Bambi of Delhi, who represented the all-ladies team said that she was very much fascinated by the scenic beauty of the coastal line and said that the travel on the Charmadi Ghats was simply a thrill. Stating that she was touched by the hospitality of the people here, she said she was on the wheels right from the start of the journey, accompanied by her co-driver Prathima Naidu from Hyderabad. “The roads of the district are indeed challenging for rallyists,” she added.

Shivashanker and Natarajan from Erode, Tamilnadu, participants of the leading team till date, said it was indeed a challenging task to drive on the roads of the district. They said they had participated in six such rallies earlier in Tamil Nadu.The rallyists proceeded to Shimoga from Mangalore to cover a distance of 320 kms on Saturday covering Moodbidri, Belthangadi, Jamalabad fort and other tourist hotspots. On Sunday, they started their journey from Shimoga to reach Goa via Jog falls, Hubli, Dandeli and Karwar.