South African team Nevarest Jabberwock has won the 450km India Expedition Adventure Race by running over the finishing line at Leh Market on Wednesday.The SA team completed 350 km of final adventure race including 75 kilomters of rafting, 43 kilometers of mountain biking, 53 kilometers of trekking and uphill running, 120 kilomters of mountain cycling, and 59 kilometers of camel safari in Nubra Valley in just 55 hours competing during day and night.The team which comprised of 3 men and a woman was received by Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah and the organisers at Leh.Four teams pulled out of the gruelling race in Leh and one team was rescued and the rest eight teams are expected to finish the race by Thursday night.A total of 13 foreign teams from the countries like South Africa, Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Argentina and Czech Republic and a local team participated in the event.On September 13, The Expedition India 2017 was flagged off jointly by Secretary Tourism M H Malik and J&K Bank CEO and Chairman Parvez Ahmad at Shankaracharya hill where athletes ran 2.9 km downhill up to Nehru Park.
At Nehru Park, the teams boarded the shikaras for a 5 kilometers race to SKICC lawns to complete the first leg of the adventure race.On the same day, the teams left for Somamarg for the second leg where teams hiked 28kms at an altitude of 13000 feet to complete 2nd leg.It is the first ever international adventure event where athletes passed through Land of High Mountain Passes at an average altitude of over 3500m, breathtaking Valley's, and beautiful rivers making it one of the most fascinating and highest adventure races in the world.The race can be tracked live at http://www.kineticgear.org/live-tracking/ which is being continuously updated. The teams are also with 25 foreign media persons who provide daily coverage to the international media on the event.The organisers also made a fascinating promo of the event which had also generated lot of response on social media. Some of the films will also be made by the organisers for the event which will also promote Kashmir and Ladkah at global level.
While congratulating the winning team, the Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah said the adventure race has received overwhelming response from the across the globe.“The race has foreign teams and some of the world champions also participated in the event. This has generated huge response from the athletes all over the world and is watched live by lakhs of the people on social media,” said Director Tourism Kashmir.J&K Bank has provided the internet connectivity for the event due to which the race is posted daily on websites and social media.The event is being organized by Johannesburg based company Kinetic Events in collaboration with department of Tourism and J&K Bank.Director Tourism Kashmir said the adventure race will also help dilute negative perception and also help remove advisories by foreign countries.The closing ceremony will be held on September 22 at Leh while as a Press Conference on the successful conclusion of the event will be held in Srinagar on September 24.