Longest journey on a motorcycle to enter Guinness book of records

 

Starting from Vaniyambadi in Vellore, Manigandan kept his travels within the southern half of the country but covered nearly 360 km per day. 

 

Addressing the media on Saturday, he said, “ After covering the southern half, I  decided why not take up other parts of the country. It is then that I learnt about the record held for the longest journey by a motorcyclist in a single country and I thought to myself why not try it and took it up as a challenge.”

 

Travelling across the country in a zig-zag pattern, Manigandan crossed 29 states and five union territories to achieve his feat. It was in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) wherein he achieved this feat and was felicitated by the Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. 

 

“In the west I went as far as the Rann of Kutch while in  the east I went up till Manipur, in the north up to Sonmarg (near Kargil). This amazing experience can’t be described in words and I am extremely happy that I got this record back for my country.”, he added.

 

But his travel always did not go smoothly as he thought it would be. During his ride of 38,239km Manigandan had to spend time at a militant camp in Manipur and also had to come face to face with the massacre of adivasis by Bodo Militants in Assam. 

 

“I actually entered a wrong path as i was misguided in between due to the language problem. I was extremely nervous when I had to encounter the militants. Many a time, I  went off the GPS but the services support was very efficient and they kept relocating me.”

 

On February 15,  his expedition finally concluded as he made a triumphant return  home breaking the previous record held by  Zhang Yang Fa from China who had covered  35,511 kms. Manigandan’s feat was sponsored by many entities, which included Aravinduja Motors ( Chennai).