Three youngsters from Kuttoor in Pathanamthitta in Kerala may have set a record for the fastest drive from Leh to Kanyakumari by completing their 3,888-km adventure in just 52 hours and 58 minutes. On Thursday, the trio arrived at Kuttoor after the long journey to a rousing welcome from relatives and friends.
Joe Jacob, 20, his brother Vinu Kurien Jacob, 22, and their cousin Josin Baby, 23, formed a team to pursue their dream of smashing the earlier record of 57 hours and 20 minutes. That record was achieved by a team from Bhopal in the SUV category.
Joe, a second-year B. Tech student at Mar Baselios College in Kuttikkanam, was the one who came up with the idea. Along with Vinu and Josin, who are engineering graduates, Joe decided to make the trip in a sedan — a Honda Amaze. They ensured that an oxygen kit, emergency medication and first aid, dry fruit, nuts, chocolates and drinking water were always at hand. They also prepared a detailed journey report with 30 attestations on their logbook and GPS data to be sent to the Limca Book of Records.
The Flag Officer at the Defence Institute for High Altitude Research flagged off the journey from Leh at 11.08 a.m. on October 5. “It took 11 hours for us to cover the 460-km treacherous Leh-Manali stretch as we had to cross the rough and tough Thangla Pass at 17,582 ft above sea level and the Rohtang Pass,” said Joe. The trio reached Kanyakumari at 4.06 p.m. on October 7, crossing Chandigarh, Delhi, Agra, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Salem and Madurai.
