Lone Valley woman at snow autocross

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 20

Sharmeen Mushtaq Nizami, a 40-year-old doctor, became the first Kashmiri woman to race a car in a snow autocross held on Saturday at the Gulmarg resort in north Kashmir.

Nizami was the only woman driver among the 50 participants at the second edition of the Frozen Rush, a snow autocross organised by a Srinagar-based adventure and motor-sport outfit ‘Kashmir Off Roads’. The doctor completed her lap on the icy track in Gulmarg in a modest 5:15 minutes, without any foul and any penalty.

“She was wonderful. She didn’t go very fast, but she was focussed and made no mistake,” said Farah Zaidi, the spokeswoman for Kashmir Off Roads.

Nizami, a mother of two and a medical officer at a hospital in Srinagar, will compete for the second and final round of the race, which will be held on Sunday. She was driving her cousin’s 4X4.

The snow rally organised is a time-based race and the participant is to compete for two laps on 1.25 kilometre icy track at Gulmarg.

Nizami told reporters that she hoped it would encourage girls towards adventure sports. “We have a lot of scope for adventure sports. I hope this will bring more girls into it,” she said. Nizami said she hopes to race in her own 4x4 next year.