Two-wheeled adventure junkies in Ranchi got a thrill pill on Sunday with the decades-old Winter Motorcycle Rally making a comeback after a gap of almost 14 years.

Ranchi Aero Sports Club, which had introduced the bike competition back in 1990 and discontinued it after 2001 due to logistics problems, in association with Ranchi Adventure Wheelers organised the 13th edition of the rally from Ranchi Club again. 

Each of the 26 teams covered about 115km around the city before reaching the finishing point at Hotel Green Acre near Birsa Munda Airport.

Each team had two members — a biker and a navigator. The road book, containing the route chart illustrated with symbols of landmarks, was handed over to the navigators just minutes before the race was flagged off.

It was a time-speed-distance rally, demanding bikers to navigate through various segments within a stipulated time and at a specified speed.  The race was open to all types of motorcycles and scooters, irrespective of their make and engine capacity. 

“Since the competition was about covering a certain distance within a specific time, driving at a high speed will not help and teams were awarded penalty points for reaching a checkpoint before or after the intended time. The team with the least penalty points was declared winner,” said Souvik Bhattacharya, one of the organisers.

At the end of the day, the team of Rajiv David and Jasmeet won the first prize while the team of Nitin and Subhashis Ghose was adjudged second. Achal Anand and Navintam Srivastava bagged the third slot.