First Place winners team TEAM MACAW - Tilde Andrea Seider and Rasmus Bo Rasmussen from Denmark posing for the photograph with Anushka Perera, General Manager, Connaissance de Ceylan (extreme left) and D.P. Daluwatte, Director Events, Sri Lanka Tourist Promotion Bureau (extreme right) after receiving the Sri Lanka Airlines sponsorship cheque. PICTURES BY HERBERT PERERA
The 14th edition of Lanka Challenge self-drive Tuk Tuk Challenge, in partnership with Connaissance de Ceylan and the Ministry of Tourism and Sri Lankan Airlines as the main sponsor of the event, was completed in style and the closing ceremony and the Awards presentation was held recently at Suriya Resort in Waikkal.
Despite the unfortunate shocking Easter Sunday attacks, the Tuk Tuk Warriors successfully finished their 1000-km adventure around Sri Lanka and returned to the Suriya Resort and concluded the Tuk Tuk rally.
The group was camping in the middle of a forest in Mannar when the unfortunate incidents occurred, and even though the group was shocked and saddened, all the participants came together with the intention of completing the challenge as planned.
This year’s edition explored the wild and less travelled territory from Minuwangoda, Kalpitiya, Wilpattu, Mannar, Jaffna, Trincomalee, Sigiriya, Riverst One, Kandy and Waikkal. Participants rode approximately 150km per day over 9 days and covered more than 1000 km in total.
The self-drive Tuk-Tuk Challenge gave 53 participants in 20 tuk-tuks from 10 countries, an up close and personal experience of some of the most fascinating historical sites and views of the country, all the while raising money for local charities, environmental organisations and above all not giving into terrorism.
In this edition, the participants faced some unusual challenges from tasting the hottest chilies to selling fish at the local market to probably the most comical for us locals: taking groceries to a random home in a village and getting the home-dwellers to cook for them. Other challenges included, the elephant dung putt shot challenge, memorising Buddhist chants and offering flowers at a village temple. While still being fun, the tuk-tuk challenge offered participants a way of interacting with daily life in Sri Lanka.
Julian Carnell, the founder of the large minority said, “It was important that the Lanka Challenge event was seen through to the end, especially given the existing climate here in Sri Lanka, as the event supported local partners such as ‘the Red Cross Society of Sri Lanka’ and ‘Land Owners Restore Rainforest in Sri Lanka (LORRIS)”.
“A total of 10 percent of each team’s entry fee was given directly to charity partners. Last year we collected over USD8,000 which was used for different charitable projects, including donating textbooks, musical instruments and planting more than 200 indigenous trees to offset our carbon emissions. In 2019, we raised even more funds in Sri Lanka and were able to touch many more lives,” he said.
“We are grateful to this year’s brave participants and the large minority who decided to stay and see their 1000km challenge through to its completion.
A special mention must be given to the Police, Army, and Ministry of Defence along with Connaissance de Ceylan and Sri Lanka Ministry of Tourism who went the extra mile to provide the additional infrastructure and security needed for our visitors to complete their mission post-Easter Sunday attacks,” Carnell added.
The closing ceremony and awards presentation of the 14th edition of Lanka Challenge Tuk Tuk Rally was held at the Suriya Resort in Waikkal on Saturday.
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