The Rickshaw Run

June 1st 2008

Kathmandu to Pondicherry

The Rickshaw Run is a simple if crazy concept. With very little preparation and even less luggage, 70 teams will race along the atrocious roads of the Indian subcontinent on 145cc rickshaws. In other words, we’ll be haring 2,500 odd miles from Kathmandu (Nepal) down to Pondicherry (just south of Chennai) on a machine similar to a lawnmower.

Although it’s a twice-yearly event, the route changes each time. Sadly, however, road conditions do not improve. And as anyone who paid attention in GCSE Geography will know, summer time is monsoon season in India. This means we’ll be racing on a machine with a spluttering top speed of 40mph (downhill with the wind behind us) in sticky torrential rain. What a splendid idea.

The aim is to finish within two weeks, although it may well take us two years. There is no support nor backup vehicles and no guarantee we’ll make it. But it will be an adventure and one which we’re hoping will raise lots of cash for two very worthy charities.