It was June 2004 and a typically lazy morning for the 40 or so 'P5' students completing the final months of their INSEAD MBA. Two such students were sat in one of the study cubicles on the third floor.
It was around 11:30am; Nuno Delicado, having just completed his third nap of the morning was contemplating preparing for his Advanced Applied Corporate Finance class that afternoon. Stephen Pickup, not usually spotted on campus at such an early hour, was still wiping the sleep from his eyes.
'Morning' grunted Stephen to Nuno as he took a seat next to him. Nuno looked up startled to see his friend on campus well before his usual arrival time of around 3pm.
"Wow, Stephen! What are doing here so early?" said Nuno. "Did you wet the bed?"
"Not exactly. I'm turning over a new leaf" Stephen said proudly.
"After failing Marketing for the second time, I've realized it's time for me to make a change in my life. No more mornings spent in bed for me. From now on I'm going to be on time for class every day. I need to get my grades up." Stephen was renowned on campus not just for failing Marketing once, but for failing it twice and, furthermore, for achieving a significantly lower score on the second attempt than the first.
Nuno tried hard to control his laughter as he thought of Stephen trying to figure out what the 4 Ps stood for. Saving his sides from further pain, Nuno quickly changed the subject and asked: "And exactly how are you going to ensure that you arrive here on time Stephen?"
"Ah", said Stephen. "I'll be riding my motorbike to school every day. I've done the journey from Heritage to INSEAD several times and have calculated I can arrive in less than 3 minutes with a 95% statistical confidence interval. As such, I just need to roll out of bed in time to get on my motorbike by 8:27am in order to be almost certain of making the 8:30 am class."
Nuno began laughing again. Everyone knew that Stephen had not only failed Marketing but Statistics as well. The thought of Stephen correctly calculating confidence intervals was about as likely as Professor Pierre Hillion writing romantic poetry.
Resisting the opportunity for increased ridicule on Stephen's expense, Nuno thought he may be able to lay down a challenge to Stephen. Nuno was an accomplished long-distance runner. He'd completed several marathons, including the Singapore marathon only months before.
"3 minutes?" mused Nuno. "You know I can run from Heritage to INSEAD in less time than that, don't you?"
"Surely not" retorted Stephen, "my powerful motorbike will ferry me here significantly more quickly than your skinny legs."
Seeing Stephen warm to the challenge, Nuno said "Well, why don't we have a race and see who wins?"
"Sure" said Stephen."What about next Friday?"
"You're on."
Listening intently to the friendly banter from an adjacent cubicle was fellow P5 student Anthony Houlahan. Anthony, always looking for ways to combine scientific experiment with entertainment, thought he might have spotted an opportunity to do just that.
"Excuse me lads", Anthony said as he entered Nuno's and Stephen's cubicle, "I couldn't help hearing that you're planning a race from Heritage to the INSEAD campus next Friday. Would you be open to allowing other people to enter?"
"Who else?" asked Stephen.
"Well, if you're racing each other from Heritage to INSEAD maybe there are others who could join in? In particular, we could open the race to other people using alternative means of transportation. For example, who's to say that a person on a bicycle would not beat you both. What about roller-bladers? Horseback riders? People riding in a car? Who's to say what is the quickest form of transport? If we let others join we can truly find out which is the quickest mode of transport from Heritage to INSEAD."
By now several other P5 students had joined the conversation. They all laughed at the prospect of a veritable re-creation The Wacky Races right there on their own doorstep. They agreed to open it up to other competitors and so, on a morning in June 2007, the INSEAD DASH was conceived.
The date was set and Anthony proceeded to write an email to all students on the campus inviting their participation.
Several others agreed to help. Thierry Ferey agreed to film the event and create a video.Permission was sought from and granted by the INSEAD administration.
Over the next week or so, the participants gradually signed up. And so on the morning of 11 June 2004, the inaugural DASH began.
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