KATHMANDU, April 10: After the successful road trips from Kathmandu to Last Resort in 2009, Chitwan in 2010 and Pokhara in 2011 and 2012, the 5th annual Enfield Rendezvous Poker Run, organized jointly by Sacred Summits and Stewie Mclean from Australia is back yet again.
The event is set for April 13 to 15 and the organizers have decided to stick to Pokhara this time as well.[break]
Poker Run, since its inception, has witnessed participants of various nationalities. Including national riders from Kathmandu, Dharan and Chitwan, and Indian participants from Bangalore, Allahabad, Arunachal, Kolkata, Sikkim, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai, some 200 participants on Enfield and other classic motorcycles are expected to ride through the Nepali terrain this year.
“Poker Run has become a family event and with age-group ranging from 18-70 years, there’s a lot of friendship. What we do is bring together everyone to celebrate Nepali New Year in style,” said Rabi Thapa, CEO of Sacred Summits and Event Coordinator for Poker Run, adding, “In Pokhara, many of these participants go paragliding, boating, zipline and there are restaurants offering discounts, so it helps in promoting the local economy too.”
A card is picked at each pit-stop, leaving the fifth one for Pokhara. The best hand is awarded with different vouchers followed by titles like Best Enfield Award, Best Looking Modified Enfield, Best Supporting/Enthusiastic Woman Enfield Rider, Hard Luck Award for the bike with maximum number of breakdowns, and a new title will be introduced this year for the rider who has traveled the longest kilometers to get to the event.
Thapa said, “The event has gained recognition through word-of-mouth even outside the country. We’ve had participants from Denmark, Norway, Luxemburg, Germany and Australia, among others and now motorcycle clubs in India are also showing interest and I’ve come to know that Poker Run is widely talked about in Sri Lanka as well.”
Siru Thapa, 22, who first participated in Poker Run in 2011, says she likes going on the road with the community of Enfield riders. “It’s like traveling with your family. I’m looking forward to meeting participants from India and am particularly excited to meet other female riders, too.”
Manashri Bordoloi, who’s traveling from Guwahati in Assam with her husband and 10-year-old daughter for Poker Run, said, “I have participated in Rider Mania in India but this is my first Poker Run. I hope to meet other bikers with their Bullets and have fun with my family.” Manashri is representing The Bikerni, All-Women Motorcycle Association of India and is set to reach Kathmandu on Friday.Similarly, Nagkarthik MP representing Wolf Pack Motorcycle Club of Bangaloresaid, “We don’t have poker runs in India. I really liked the concept of getting together a group of people who feel the same way about traveling on bikes, particularly Enfields.” He reached Siliguri on Wednesday evening with three other bikers.
Continuing with the tradition of incorporating charity in their event, Poker Run will be supporting Millennium Publication to distribute textbooks and children’s books to a school in Pokhara and will also be promoting the hand washing campaign led by Ministry of Health and Population with UNICEF.
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