3rd Indo-Bhutan friendship car rally8 February, 2010 - The lost time in navigating the traffic in Siliguri during the first leg did not stop the professional rally team from Kolkota, Arindam Ghosh and Somdeb Chanda in bagging the first prize of Rs 75,000 and a Bhutan India Friendship Association (BIFA) trophy, during the third Indo Bhutan friendship rally (IBFR), which ended on Saturday in Thimphu.
Mr Ghosh, an entrepreneur has been rallying for the last 30 years. “The first leg went extremely bad,” recalled, Mr Chanda, who has been navigating rally routes for the last 18 years. “But we fell back on track in the last two final legs to make up for that loss.”
All top three prizes in the open category went to the Indian teams.
The last two years’ car rally experience paid off for the Bhutanese team, Thinley Wanghuck and Ankit Agarwal, who bagged the first prize of Nu 25,000 and an India Bhutan Friendship (IBFA) trophy among the seven teams from Bhutan. In the overall category, they ranked 12th. “It was expected, I stood first during the first rally and second in the second one but definitely didn’t want to come third during the third rally,” Thinely Wangchuck, 35, a rally enthusiast and a entrepreneur based in Gomtu, said. “We hit everything on time, and didnot miss the tricky passage controls.”
With 1091 penalty points in the three legs, car number four, driven by Soham Hazra and Amit Saha won the second prize of Rs 50,000 and an India Bhutan Friendship (IBFA) trophy among the 33 cars.
Amber Gurung’s driving over tracks filled with boulders, through sandy riverbeds and narrow mountain roads, with N B Gurung’s almost perfect navigating, got them the second prize of Nu 15,000 and a trophy among the Bhutanese teams.
The third prize, a trophy went to first timers Kinzang Wangchuk and his wife Wangmo. “I had to do both the navigating and driving sometimes,” recalled Kinzang Wangchuk, a civil servant. “Now that we know how it’s done, we will do better next time.”
From India, the third prize went to Vikas Toshiniwal and Nirav Mehta.
Car number 30, which was driven by the only women’s team from Bhutan, Kesang C Dorjee and Choki Tshomo, were lauded for pulling out five cars whose wheels were sucked into the sandy riverbeds, also received a trophy. “We are thrilled to win a trophy and it was a really good experience,” said Kesang C Dorjee. “We want to see more women’s team participating next time.”
Foreign minister lyonpo Ugyen Tshering and Indian ambassador to Bhutan, Pavan K Varma awarded the prizes at the clock tower square yesterday. It was followed by a concert by Five Dimensions, a Kolkotta band.
“The rally is symbolic of a much greater truth, the Indo-Bhutan friendship, which needs to be visually manifested,” the Indian Ambassador said. “The rally was conceptualised to reach out to people and connect them to strengthen the friendship between the two countries,” the chief organiser, J P Majumdar said.
Some 200 people including 80 competitors, 100 officials and 20 back up service people participated in the JK Tyres sponsored rally.
“It was very adventurous and a great experience,” a Bhutanese participant working at the hotel management training institute Sonam Tshering said. “I’ll make sure I get myself a better car to win the rally next year,” added a women driver, Chencho Wangmo.
Source: kuenselonline.com |
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