GREAT ESCAPE – SHILLONG
In the land of clouds, a sunny day brings with it some great off-roading
We spent a weekend with the finest off-roaders in the North East
TTHE CLOUDS CLEARED AS we neared the day of the Great Escape, as if even the rain gods wouldn’t want to mess with these passionate off-roaders. We made our way to Café Cherrapunjee and witnessed a huge gathering of people at the venue. Most of them were just getting their feet wet, and had arrived with a bunch of supporters – family and friends, in tow. To everyone involved this wasn’t really a competition. It was a community of adventure seekers who were just looking to have a good time.
This being my second Great Escape, I decided to give the trail-drive a miss and tried to get a feel of what the off-road challenge was like. It wasn’t long before I realised that the off-road challenge was an
incredible battleground for some of the most skilled off-road drivers and some very mean machines. The obstacles planned for the day were an attempt to gauge the skill of the drivers and were thereby set up to be more technical than recent Great Escapes. The obstacles comprised of slippery rocks, awkward angles and some muddy sections, all rolled into one. Finding the right approach was everything and that was where the best off-roaders came to the fore. You couldn’t just power your way through.
As the rounds got underway, it quickly became apparent that this was not going to be child’s play. The toughest drivers found it difficult to navigate the enormous rocks. Most would scrape the underbellies of their Thars and a few even ended up with broken differentials and/or axles. Unlike the other Great Escapes where you’d see seriously specced out machines, the people here in the North East relied on sheer skill more than anything else, so much so that one of the contenders even came in a stock Bolero Camper (with stock tyres, no less) and successfully sailed through all obstacles.
Even a newbie like me could see why off-roading is such a big deal here. The poor connectivity that people here are accustomed to ensures that every day, most of these drivers have to go off the beaten track to get anywhere. And that might prove to be a daunting task for most people but more than a few fall in love with the challenge that it poses everyday.
Unfortunately, light permitted only three out of the planned five obstacles, but the seventeen contenders and their vehicles had been given a thorough work out. Those that stood out from the were asked to join the other Great Escape winners for the final round, to be held in Igatpuri. In the modified class, Highfill Syiem came up on top to win first place, followed by Chainlang Jyrwa in second and Heisar Kyndiah in third place. In the stock class, Bichar Passah finished at first position followed by John Francis Khyreim in second.
But who finished, and where, didn’t really matter. The Great Escape Shillong felt more like a group of friends getting together, having some fun, promoting off-roading and cheering for each other as they cajoled their 4x4s past the finish line. ⌧
Light permitted only three out of the planned
Five OBSTACLES