Indian army's Lt Col creates Guinness World Record of fastest cycle journey from Manali to Leh

New Delhi, April 08: Proud Moment For Indian Army! Adding another feather to his cap, Indian Army's Lieutenant Colonel Bharat Pannu created a Guinness World Record of the fastest cycle journey from Leh to Manali. He covers the arduous route of 472 km in 35 Hours 32 Minutes & 22 Seconds.

 

The Additional Directorate General of Public Information shared this news on social media and congratulated the Lieutenant Colonel for this major feat. "हार्दिक बधाई Lieutenant Colonel Bharat Pannu of #IndianArmy has created #GuinnessWorldRecord of “Fastest Cycle Journey of #Manali – #Leh Highway” in 35 Hours 32 Minutes & 22 Seconds to cover the arduous route of 472 km," it tweeted.

 

According to the Pannu, he took the training in Ladakh 20 days before attempting the record. He started his journey from Leh on October 10.

 

 

 

Talking about this major achievement Pannu said, "This record has never been attempted earlier and I got a cut-off time of 40 hours to get into the record books. The terrain was unforgiving, 40% of roads in a bad state, and the low temperature at night tested our grit to reach the finish point within the cut-off,"

 

He added, "It was very challenging to hold the handlebar straight due to the freezing temperatures, and braking on the downhill sections was dicey. The route has 04 high altitude passes (Taglang La, Nakee La, Lachulung La, and Baralacha La) highest being at the height of 17,480 feet and the cumulative elevation gain of 29,200 feet. I had to take the longer route via Rohtang Pass as the Guinness authorities had not permitted to take the newly constructed Atal Tunnel, which would have reduced the distance by 40 km."

 

 

It should be noted it is not the first time Pannu has made history, earlier in July 2020, Pannu created another history by securing a podium place at the first edition of the Virtual Race Across America (vRAAM) 2020. The RAAM is a 5000-kilometer transcontinental race from the West Coast to the East coast of the USA. Pannu finished 3rd on the leaderboard with a total distance of 4086 kilometers in 12 days and a total cumulative elevation gain of 71,000 meters.

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