Himalaya Adventure Race
Adventure In India
Rob Howard / 01.11.2005
The venue was the hill town of Manali in the Western Himalaya where Seyonasia were working with local company Snowland Holidays to make the most of the local area. The two day stage race for teams of 4 attracted 15 teams, who started at the Puid Temple in the Kulu valley, and competed at disciplines which included some impressive rope works, a chilly 3km stream trek in glacial waters … and Hindu Temple identification!
The result couldn’t have been closer. Team ‘Fit Like’, comprising of Macau residents, Russel Allen, Miguel Freitas, Henrique Galvao and Hong Kong resident Adrian King overcame a one-hour time penalty to beat Team ‘Power Bar Hong Kong’ (Pedro Riberio, Fred Bourquin, Franz Nel, and Claire Price) by just over one minute after 12 hours of racing.
Hong Kong based ‘Bungee or Bust’ (Andy Thomson, Al Chalibi, Shaun Horrocks and Mark Leeper) came in third and twelve teams successfully finished. Competitors said the climb to 4000m Rohtang Pass was the most challenging element of the race, while the various bike descents, white water rafting and rope skills in Kothi Gorge were the most exciting.
The King of the Hills race took place the next day on Oct. 4th. The 12km race began at the Hadimba temple at 2400m and the former Taiwan triathlon champion Suen Jyi Shan showed a clear pair of heals to the rest of the field to win in 1.14.33 over the hilly course. He was more than 3 minutes ahead of local runner Mahinder, with another local, Sandeep Singh. in third. Hong Kong resident Adrian King finished 4th.
Aya Tanaka, from Japan, was the Queen of the Hills going away in 1:30: 45, 10 minutes ahead of fellow Hong Kong resident Claire Price. Amazintly a Tibetan 12 year old girl, Tenzin Norzin, finished third!
Overall the local runners did exceptionally well. Five of the first 10 runners and 13 of the first 20 runners were local. Foreign runners expressed respect and admiration for their local counterparts who showed incredible hill running ability despite poor shoes and equipment. One top finisher ever ran bare footed, and the winning foreign competitors all donated their prize money to local charities.
You can see more about these events on the Seyonasia website .
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