On Sunday 13th September, 60 teams from 10 countries will start an uphill adventure from the coast of Goa to Pokhara in Nepal. The teams leave from Colva at Midday and they have no set route, no professional drivers and no back up or support of any kind. The adventure will raise £60,000 for the official charities in India and Nepal.
Easy journeys are boring journeys, so they will be driving three-wheeled auto-rickshaws designed for short urban hops and therefore guaranteed to provide adventure in spades when they hit the mountains.
The Rickshaw Run is an extreme fortnight of mud, sweat, mountains, jungles and possibly the worst roads in the world. It is a simple, intentionally ridiculous and hugely popular adventure designed to raise money for charities in India and guarantee the very tallest of tales to bore your grandchildren with.
Andrew Sibree, 39, from England is a member of team 'Dukes of Hyderabad' and said:
"It's a very eclectic bunch of teams here in Goa preparing for the launch. We're expecting countless breakdowns and very much looking forward to setting off and reaching remote areas where tourists don't normally visit and meeting the locals.
"We're deluding ourselves about the climb into the mountains ahead and hoping it's going to be as flat as Holland out there – the reality of the rather large hills we're up against is too scary to contemplate at the moment!"
It is not a race and there is no prize for arriving first – the prizes are awarded to the teams who have the most splendid adventures along the way, often getting in (and out of) a variety of interesting pickles. The finish line doesn’t have a clock to mark the teams’ arrival times, it has cucumber sandwiches, much back-slapping and a huge party.
Jo Coston from team 'The Black Sheep Rides Again' said:
"At the moment we're in the pool enjoying a Kingfisher, pretty hard work this! We have to leave at some point I suppose. If we have any problems on the road we're going to use the raw power of the rickshaw to get us out of trouble!"
The teams are all in rather high spirits preparing for the launch with a suitable urgency by sitting by the swimming pool at the Rickshaw Run base in Colva.
Blogs and updates are already being posted on the Live Updates page of the website. Recent updates include a bit of a shock for team The Last Crusaders:
"These first few days have been a big culture shock to us, and even after masses of tips and advise before we went, we honestly were not prepared for this”
Team Hey Hey Lets Goa wrote:
"We signed up without any money or any idea what we were letting ourselves in for and we've somehow managed to raise over £1000 for our charities (thanks very much to everyone who has donated so far) and got ourselves some flights!"
And for some just getting to the start line has been providing highlights early on. Team Floppy Giraffes wrote:
"The ride was amazing, through jungle mountains of southern india, over giant plains and rivers and waterfalls. Really incredible ride."
Saving a bit of the world...
This Autumn 2009 edition of the Rickshaw Run is set to raise more than £60,000 for the official charities, Maiti Nepal and Frank Water Projects.Maiti Nepal works to protectNepali girls and women from crimes like domestic violence, trafficking for flesh trade, child prostitution, child labor and various forms of exploitation and torture.
Frank Water Projects provides ustainable, affordable, clean water solutions for communities who depserately need it using the latest technology. Money raised will go the capital costs of building the clean water facility.
You can follow the adventure with live updates from the teams including a position tracking system, SMS messages from the road, photos, videos and blogs. The mighty three-wheeled adventure wobbles into action on Sunday but the teams are already posting updates about their preparation for the launch: