Men Who Make It Happen

It's 3 am and bitterly cold at the army transit camp at Patsio situated at a height of 13,500 ft above mean sea level. Flag off for the participating vehicles is at 8 am but Manjeev Bhalla and Vijay Parmar, the secretary and president of the Himalayan Motorsports Association (HMA) have already left to take up positions along the 103 kms competitive section of the rally till Nakee la. So havePushpendra and Prashant, manning a radio car. If the rallyists have a grueling time on the route, it is even more so for the 200 odd volunteers and office bearers of the HMA who make it happen. 

To enable 140 odd vehicles to race as safely as they can, with medical help at hand, radio cars to monitor their movement, organize lodging for the 500 strong juggernaut in remote Himalayan outposts, reconnaissance the most challenging routes and their alternatives if they are blocked on the day of the event, to even carrying a truck load of fuel to Leh as there are no petrol pumps enroute, to mopping up stragglers with breakdowns, the HMA has to do it all in some of the world's most treacherous terrain. Points out Parmar, (himself an ace rally driver), "Our army of volunteers is our logistics backbone. They come from all parts of the country for the thrill of being part of the event, even if it is as an 'official'" 

If working out newer, more challenging routes each year is an annual task for Manjeev, aheli-skiing entrepreneur of Manali, perhaps a tougher assignment is balancing the conflicting interests of the Federation of Motorsports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and the Motorsports Association of India (MAI), both of which mother-hen the Raid. But even as the HMA is taking a bow for running the event for ten consecutive years, why is it despondent about the future? 

Says Parmar, "We are getting a huge response from the people and the quality of participation has gone up substantially too, but sadly, matching sponsorship is lacking. Unless we get good high end sponsors, I fear the rally will not be able to improve qualitatively and might just die out." Rallyists from the professional circuit like the Indian National Rally Championship rarely venture into the rigours of the 'Raid'. Besides transporting their vehicles from the southern part of the country to the Himalayas too is a challenge with meager sponsorship. This is one reason why foreign participation too is very limited. It costs about Rs 11 lakh a day to run the event and much of it is done on a shoe string budget mainly because the volunteers chip in just for the love of the sport and do not charge a penny.