9th edition of Times Women’s Drive from tomorrow
Pune: The ninth edition of the Times Women’s Drive (TWD) will be begin on Saturday. The event is expected to be bigger and better this year with 530 cars and 1,600 participants set to join in.
As many as 450 participants attended a briefing session held at Pune Hyatt on Ahmednagar Road. This year, 115 cars, with three participants in each car, will be flagged off from Pune, which is a record.
Hyderabad has been added to the list of cities where TWD is held and, for the first time, the drive will have over 530 cars. The drive will also see the first-ever all-women car rally team from Egypt called Gazelle Rally Team as international influencers and they would be a part of the travelogue series from Mumbai and Bengaluru. Multiple engaging contests have been planned for participants in each city.
The winner from each city will take home prizes worth Rs4.5 lakh, Rs3.3 lakh and Rs2.2 lakh for the top three spots. Other awards include best dressed car (Rs60,000), best dressed team (Rs45,000), best social message on car (Rs45,000), best car Karaoke video (Rs15,000), most creative groupfie (Rs21,000), most stylish woman (Rs20,000) and woman of impact (Rs20,000).
Through the drive, Timesgroup is addressing women’s empowerment, spreading awareness about cancer and early detection. TWD has been working closely with Women’s Cancer Initiative — Tata Memorial Hospital since its inception and a large part of the money collected through registration is donated to the hospital.
Speaking about the association, Deveika Bhojwani, vice president of the Women’s Cancer Initiative — Tata Memorial Hospital, said, “TWD has led to more women being aware about cancers affecting women. Due to the initiative, Tata Memorial Hospital has been able to raise the level of cancer awareness across Maharashtra benefiting many women from remote villages.”
This drive had a modest beginning with 250 cars driving a distance of 240km from Mumbai. Pune was added in 2010. TWD bagged Limca Book of Records for three years in a row and set a Guinness World Record for most female participants in a motorsport event in 2014. After being certified the biggest drive in the world, TWD doubled the distance and added Bangalore in 2016.
The drive is simultaneously flagged off from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad and covers a distance of over 600 kms to reach Goa.
Source : Times of India
