Kozhikode :

It is the sheer passion for adventure that drove a group of young men from city to form the Calicut Off-road Club six months ago. From a small group of fun drivers, the COC has now become a major contender in many of the off-road motor sport in South India.

“Initially, it was a get-together of a group of owners of four-wheel drive vehicles. But we found that many of the group were interested in going for extremes. So we finally decided to enter into competitive events,” said Renjith Andrews, one of the founders of the club.

The event organized by the DTPC at Karuvarakkundu in Malappuram was the first one contested by the COC. The club has thus far participated in seven events in the last six months.

“The event organized by Mahindra at Sakaleshpur in Karnataka last month proved to be a turning point for us. We bagged a total of five titles in the event,” Renjith said.

Linu K V and Sabin Raj won the first place in the petrol class, Sidharth and Vivek first place in the diesel class, Robish and Sandeep second price in diesel class, Linch and Vipin third place in diesel class and Sidharth won the overall championship.

Sidharth won the Ooty Great Escape event held on November 9. He along with Arun P P who won the Great Escape Vagamon earlier, has been selected for the finals to be held in Nasik.

“Preparation of vehicles for the tasks was a big challenge for us. We solved the problem by starting a workshop at Kottooli in the city,” Renjith said.

COC feels that the terrain the state is quite suitable for the adventure sports. The club is now recruiting new members and trains them for the future events. “Our dream is to organize an off-road event in Kozhikode itself,” he said.

Apart from participating in the events, the COC is also active in activities for the benefit of the public.

The club has organized a campaign for drug-free Kozhikode and has conducted road safety awareness programmes joining hands with the police and the motor vehicles department.

Anyone who has a four-wheeler can join the club. “They will be scrutinized by the COC committee and will have to strictly abide by the bylaw of the club,” Renjith said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Times of India / Home> City> Kozhikode / TNN  / November 11th, 2014