NEW DELHI: The Indian Army has decided to support an initiative of the veterans which is aimed to promote adventure tourism and is expected to create jobs for the locals in the state of Uttarakhand. The ‘Soul of Steel’ challenge on the lines of the ‘Ironman triathlon’ long-distance triathlon challenge in Europe which tests an individual physically is set to be launched in India but with an added challenge of high-altitude endurance.
The first edition is set to be formally launched on January 14 and the effort is spearheaded by a venture CLAW Global that is being run by the veterans of the Army. Speaking about the idea of the venture, Major Vivek Jacob (retd) of CLAW Global said, “The idea behind the Soul of Steel is making a pool of skill sets and creating a challenge that will unlock human ability to survive, stabilise and thrive in high altitude areas.” It is an endurance challenge in high altitude for civilians.
Initially, there would be 12 Indian participants and six international teams. The age profile to apply is 18 to 30 years. “The challenge will be spread over three months. It will also enable life skill training, youth development, global promotion of adventure tourism in Uttarakhand and also display the skillset of veterans,” he stated.
The challenge is divided into four stages: Stage1: jungle and mountain training over 40 days; Stage 2: high altitude training over 30 days; Stage 3: refresher course for international teams over 15 days and Stage 4: the challenge over seven days.