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Media release: For immediate release – 1st Feb 2020
Totally buzzing! Trans-India Challenge heads for Pune
• Trans-India Challenge team leaves Mumbai on 3,500 mile road trip after two years of planning
• Challenge Morgan 3-Wheeler, nicknamed “Queen Bee”, raring to go.
• Goonj Co-Founder, Meenakshi Gupta, on hand to flag team off…and hitches a ride
After almost two years of planning, one heart operation and a great deal of anticipation, the Trans-India Challenge is finally underway (1st Feb).
Flagged away from the Team’s base in East Mumbai by Meenakshi Gupta, Co-Founder of the Indian NGO Goonj, the Challenge Morgan 3-Wheeler – now named “Queen Bee” – headed East to Pune as the initial stop on the first leg of. The city will be the 3,500 mile journey being undertaken Alan and Pat Braithwaite from Suffolk in the UK.
Now in its full livery, including partner logos of Ralph Lauren, Morgan Motor Company, World Wise Foods, Bearing Point and E-Cargo Bikes, Queen Bee with Alan at the wheel was given escorted through the teeming Mumbai traffic by outriders from the Mumbai Royal Enfield Motorcycle Club. According to Alan: “It was a complete surprise, but a wonderful start to our adventure, having already been royally welcomed by everyone we met in the city before we departed.”
There was a further surprise for Meenakshi Gupta, who was offered the passenger seat for the two-hour ride to the scenic Amby Valley and famous Lohagad Fort en route to Pure. “It was a great experience and the car, as well has the project as a whole, is already attracting huge interest. Alan is not just an entrepreneur and philanthropist, he is also something of a dreamer. This dream has definitely come true and offers a tremendous opportunity to raise Goonj’s profile.”
Despite some anxious last-minute delays, the team left on schedule for the 34-day road trip, established to support Goonj’s work which uses recycled urban waste – particularly clothing and textiles – as ‘currency’ to reward rural villages for self-regeneration and improvement of their own communities.
Before departing, there was time for a quick team photo and a chance to show-off their Ralph Lauren Earth Polo-branded shirts, manufactured using thread derived entirely from plastic bottles and using a waterless dye process.
The electronic tracker – courtesy of Bearing Point – was also activated, allowing visitors to the Challenge website, www.transindiachallenge.com , to follow Queen Bee’s progress throughout the trip.
For further information, or to arrange an interview with Alan and Pat Braithwaite, contact the Trans-India Challenge media office: Peter Brill, David Campbell, Amanda Campbell – media@transindiachallenge.com or +44 (0)7881 387572
To follow the Trans-India Challenge on social media see:
Facebook: @transindiachallenge
Twitter: @TransIndiaChal
Instagram: @transindiachallenge
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/trans-india-challenge
