Excelsior Sports Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 15: The Expedition India 2017 – 450 km Adventure Race completed its second leg at Sonamarg where teams had to do 28 Kilometre hike at an altitude of 13000 feet.
The teams left for Leh to complete leg 3rd to Leg 7 covering 350 km of adventure activities.
It will be first ever international adventure event where athletes will move 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.
Earlier in the first leg on Wednesday, the teams were flagged off jointly by Secretary Tourism M H Malik and J&K Bank CEO and Chairman Parvez Ahmad at Shankaracharya hills where athletes ran 1.5km downhill up to Nehru Park. At Nehru Park, the teams boarded the Shikaras and raced to SKICC lawns to complete the first leg of the adventure race.
On the same day, the teams left for Sonamarg for the second leg which was held on Thursday. At Sonamarg, the teams hiked 28kms at an altitude of 13000 feet to complete 2nd leg.
In Leh, the third leg has 75 kilomters of rafting, 43 kilometers of mountain biking of 4th leg, 53 kilometers of trekking and uphill running of 5th leg, 120 kilomters of mountain cycling of 6th leg and 59 kilometers of camel safari in Nubra Valley of 7th and final leg which will also mark the culmination of first ever international adventure event in Kashmir and Ladakh on September 22, 2017.
Notably, all the 14 teams, including 13 teams mainly from the countries like South Africa, Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Argentina and Czech Republic and a local team, have been equipped with GPS system which is tracking their race.
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 organizers 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 organizers for the event which will also promote Kashmir and Ladkah at global level.
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 in swimming have 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,” said, Director Tourism Kashmir.
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