The Rickshaw Run, with over 80 teams taking part, which started from Cochin-Kochi in Kerala on January 2 is set to end in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, India, on January 15.
The adventure cum charity event draws much national and international attention each year, as much for the cause as for the mode of travel – the three-wheeler.
New Years 2017 saw the launch of the January Rickshaw Run with 84 teams thundering along the Indian subcontinent from Cochin to Jaisalmer with only two weeks to make it. Their prize: inclusion into a noble and eclectic group – the Rickshaw Run Veterans.
Starting in the tropics of Kerala and driving north to the Rajasthani desert, this adventure pits people from around the world against the wild landscape of India – all in the most illogical vehicle possible, the auto-rickshaw.
In essence, the humble rickshaw is not a very good idea. It’s not very fast, it smells, it falls over when you go around corners, and it breaks downs more often than an emo teenager, but somehow all this makes them better.
With the Arabian Sea to the left and the Western Ghats to the right, the only route is the one that goes from start to the finish and anything else in between.
The entrance fee to the adventure not only includes full use of the tuk-tuk, but also three days of test driving, a day of vehicle maintenance and repair, a snazzy pimp job, and some chunky emergency insurance in case participants have wax in their ears during those few days.
Teams are comprised of up to 3 people, and on top of an entrance fee, teams are required to raise money for charity. So far, the Rickshaw Run has raised nearly £2,000,000 for charities across the globe.
The January Rickshaw Run launched on January 2, and the finish-line party will be held on January 15, 2017, falling conveniently around the New Year’s holiday period for those outside of India.
Inside of India, it offers a great way to break up a trip and a novel method of traversing one of the most culturally and geographically diverse countries on the planet.
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