This is my recent road trip experience from Dehradun, Uttarakhand to Jaisalmer, Rajasthan from the 13th of December to the 18th of December 2023.
Battle of Longewala between India and Pakistan in 1971
This road trip has given me experience in exploring the Thar desert of Rajasthan, the Golden city of Jaisalmer, and the remote area which I think would not be possible if I could not travel to Jaisalmer to volunteer in one of the finest desert ultra-run organized by The Hell Race.
Ultra distance categories - 50km, 100km, 160km
I started my journey from Dehradun to Gurugram by bus, it is almost a 250 km road journey. I reached in the evening and rested. next day at 9 am we started our road journey by car, we were 4 people. two runners, one organizer and I was going to volunteer in the running event. the road journey was more than 750 km which took us almost 13 hours, with lunch and tea breaks.
Once we reached we stayed in Himmat Garh Palace in Jaisalmer, beautiful and provides a 180-degree wide landscape view from the hotel, and can enjoy sun rise and sun set the the famous iconic Jaisalmer fort. The hotel also has a swimming pool.
Himmat Garh hotel
We had dinner and rested, The next morning it was Friday and the bib expo day (chest no). race category was 50 km, 100 km, and 160 km (100 miles).
Chest number distribution and race briefing
We have divided three categories into three tables so that it can be easy for us. each category 120 runners, which means Saturday morning 360 runners were going to start the race. after the race briefing, we collected drop bags of the runners for each category.
Loading runners drop bags
The next day early morning, I loaded all the bags category-wise on the truck, my station was 50 km where 100 and 160 km runners dropped bags, food and hydration points, and a 50 km race finishing point.
Race starting point
Once the race started all the volunteers moved toward their designated hydration points
The overall cut of time was 8 hours for this station, once 50 km runners finished the race and 100 and 160 km runners crossed this station we windup 50 km station and went towards 60 km hydration points.
Food preparation for the runners AT 50 KM
Tent to change the gear, rest at 50 km point
This kind of road trip has given me the experience of an offbeat place of Jaisalmer and the desert which if I could visit Jaisalmer as a tourist only, I think would miss the beauty of the offbeat place.
At night as there was no electricity everyone was enjoying Milky Way. I stopped at a 100 km hydration point, I changed my clothes as the daytime its hot and night was very cold.
Volunteers at 60 km
Bonfire was the only support for the cold night in the desert
I set in the 102 km point where I was directing runners for the 110 km hydration point. once all the runners passed from that point I came back to the 100 km point waited for sunrise and moved towards the 100-mile finishing line.
Longewala war memorial
Longewala is a border town of Rajasthan. Longewala war memorial built to honour to incredible bravery shown during the battle. It is built right on the battlefield. There are tankers and other weapon which was used during the battle.
The 100-mile runner's finishing point was the Longewala border. The Border Run is created by the race director to remember the soldier. All the Indians were allowed to walk on the war memorial and also to walk to nearby places. Foreigners are not allowed to visit Longewala Border.
Once all the runners finished the race we all went back to the hotel, rested and
in the evening we celebrated the success of the race and visited a beautiful place, we enjoyed food, local dance, and music.
The next day we again started our road journey from Jaisalmer to Gurugram.
Jaisalmer is one of the must-visit places if you like deserts, foreigners can visit Jaisalmer but not Longewala border.
The point is due to volunteering in the race I was not only able to explore the city part of Jaisalmer but also explored the part which would not be possible otherwise. This was one of the great trips as a runner it gave me immense happiness to support the runners during their race journey, hearing their successful stories and also how they were not able to complete it and how they will come next time with more preparation.
Thank you for reading!