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Tamil Nadu
SPEED MATTERS: Mayor Sarubala R. Tondaiman flagging off a car at Fastrak ’08 in Tiruchi on Sunday. — TIRUCHI: If driving is a one-man show (or woman in this case), running a rally takes two to succeed. A driver with eyes of a tiger and a navigator with an extra bit of grey cells are crucial to speed past the competitors at the right time in the right place. Apparently, it made all the difference at the Fastrak’08, a car rally exclusively for women conducted by Aura Women’s Forum on Sunday. Fifty cars, with three occupants each, including the women in driver’s seat and navigator, lined up at wee hours of the morning in the expansive grounds of St. John’s Vestry Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School. The event, conducted for second year in succession, is competition, adventure, fun and party, all rolled into one. The rally gets its support from the Madras Motor Sports Club. Egalla Mathews, her navigator Aarthi and a supporter at the backseat, all dressed up in stylish black tees and capris, entered the grounds in their matching Maruti Alto. “I’ve taken part in the event last year, while my companions are new to it. Let me see if I can steer in right speed with help from them,” she says. Sending across a message of world peace through their metallic grey Tata Indica were Poorva Srikanth and co. The enthusiastic competitors were dressed in snow white salwar-kameez, sporting caps in the same pastel shade. White cardboards cut out as doves were stuck all over the car to pass on the message. “We have worked on our previous mistakes. Let me hope for the best,” she says, with fingers crossed. Among the group of enthusiastic working women and homemakers was a standarad VIII girl feverishly calculating the time, speed and distance (TSD). Niha Rika, the young navigator, was all keyed up to putter around the city in her Hyundai Santro. “I did enough homework to compute TSD. I would guide my aunt in the driver’s seat to slow down or speed up whenever necessary,” she says. Mayor Sarubala Tondaiman flagged off the first car. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic), M. Vijayalaksmi, Chairman of ABC Hospitals and Vasan Eye Care, A. M. Arun, Deputy General Manager of Canara Bank, S. Nagarajan, and Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industry, Tiruchi Zone, A. Senthil Annamalai, flagged off successive cars at one-minute intervals. “The rally was to test navigational skills of the driver, knowledge of the traffic rules and ability to drive at a controlled speed,” said Mythilli Ramanan, a member of Aura. Gnanam Mariappan, Madhuvanthini and G. Jharangini finished in perfect timing to bag the first prize in ‘Novice’ category. Kavya Vishnuraj, Mynavathy Jaganmohan and Srivani Anand won the second prize and Sanjukta Rath, Niharika and Pallavi Rath came third. L. Muthukala, N. Muthu and Ambika Gnanam Chidambaram came first in ‘Regular’ category. Mala Venkatesh, Divya Venkatesh and Bhavya Venkatesh came second, followed by Uma Parvathavarthini, Supraja L. Narayanan and Shanthi Shivakumar.
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