Miraculous escape on Day III at the 14th Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya

SHIMLA: Dr Amit Gupta of Rishikesh and his navigator Dr Tarun Sharma had a miraculous escape on day three of the 14th Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya, after their SUV almost ran off the edge of a sheer cliff.The incident occurred on the climb-up from Kaza toKomic, in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.Theclose tracking and the alertness of the Marshals of the Maruti Suzuki Raid DeHimalaya ensured that the rallyists were pulled back from the cliff edge intime.Dr Gupta and his navigator, part of Raid Xtreme at thechallenging motorsport event, were headed towards the end of the competitivezone at Komic, when a wheel of their SUV went off the road. During thiscompetitive stretch, Raid Xtreme was running at a height of 4,500 meters abovesea level along sharp, high cliffs. Dr Gupta miscalculated the drive, runningalmost off the track. The duo's amazing luck was that their vehicle did not goover into the deep valley, and stayed hanging precariously hanging on the cliffedge.The Raid De Himalaya is organised by Maruti Suzuki and Himalayan Motorsport Association (HMA), the premier Shimla-based motorsport club. President HMA Vijay Parmar said that the minute-to-minute tracking of rallyists by the Raid Marshals saved the lives of the doctor duo. When the team did not reach the designated check-post on time, theRaid Marshals sent out an SOS to the Search and Rescue teams of the event aboutthe missing vehicle. The Search teams immediately moved into the competitivezone and began a lookout for team. Within minutes, Marshals of the Search teamreached the spot and pulled Dr Gupta's SUV back on the road. The doctor duo wasin a state of shock, and were given medical help by the Search and RescueMarshals.This has been the second incident in which rallyists at theMaruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya 2012 have had a close shave. The Raid isconsidered India's ultimate adventure in motorsport, pitting competitor andmachine against the most extreme terrain and toughest conditions. Participantsagree that while they share a passion for motorsport, rallying is a high-risksport. At the Raid De Himalaya, motorsport enthusiasts record impossible speedsat the highest motorable stretches in the world - and that is the thrill of theevent. This is also the reason why rallyists get high-risk insurancedone, and sign an indemnity bond - that they are participating in eventvoluntarily and are aware of the risk levels involved inmotorsport.The raid has two categories - Xtreme and Adventure.Xtreme is all-out speed, while the Adventure category follows the TSD(time-speed-distance) format.Raid 2012 took off from Shimla onOctober 7. After going through Manali, Kaza, Gramphoo, Koksar, Darcha and theKhardung La pass, the six-day marathon motorsport event will conclude at Leh onOctober 12.Rally results for Day III were being compiled at the timeof filing this report.The first three days of the Raid have beenhigh on drama, adventure and miraculous escapes. Fortunately, no rallyist wasinjured in the mishaps. On Day One of the Raid, a mobiker who seriously injuredhis hand was air-lifted from Kullu to Chandigarh for surgery, courtesy thededicated helicopter service introduced by the organizers for theevent.On Day Two, two teams of rallyists who were reported missingon the Raid route were searched out within minutes by the helicopter. Thevehicles of the two teams had suffered a mechanical failure and could not reachthe designated check-posts on time.Earlier, Chandigarh rallyist Simranjit Singh and his navigator Karan Narang from Gurgaon were rescued by a short, sturdy tree growing by the mountainside, when their Gypsy swerved off the road near Nag Jubbar village in Shimla district on Day One of the event.The 14th Maruti Suzuki Raid De Himalaya The Raid, an annualevent, is staged at the highest altitudes in world motorsport. Rallying at 6,000meters above sea level is rare across the globe, catapulting the Raid among thetop ten toughest rallies in the world.