Starter Kit. Idea 215 of 500. Cluster 10
Tea-estate trail running and cycling events, with the estates as the course
The mechanism, from the book
The Colombo auction sells tea by the lot to a buyer who blends it under his own name. Every step after the auction is where the money is, and every step can be done here by somebody who is not a plantation company.
The first step
Map a 10-kilometre route through one estate on its own roads, with the manager's written permission, and run it yourself with a few friends on a Sunday. Then post a paid event on running and cycling club pages in Colombo and abroad, with a date 2 months out and a cap on places. The proof is places sold and the estate's agreement to host.
- Who pays first
- A runner or cyclist in Colombo or abroad who pays entry fees for scenic races and has never been offered a course through a tea estate.
- What leaves today
- The estates are among the most beautiful landscapes on earth and earn nothing from the visitors who would pay to move through them.
Ask first
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what permission a running or cycling event on estate roads needs.
- Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask whether they would list a trail event for foreign visitors.
Check before you spend
Whether each estate owner agrees in writing, what insurance covers the riders and runners, and whether any roads need closing to traffic.
Find out these three numbers
- What do trail events abroad charge each runner to enter?
- How many runners could the estate roads hold safely?
- What does a medical team and water cost for the day?
A comparison from the book
Zermatt. Chapter Five
"The railway to the Gornergrat, so that the view belonged to visitors and not only to climbers."
Open the estate roads, and the view belongs to the visitor for a whole day.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.