Take on the world in a glorified lawnmower
What’s the Rickshaw Run?
Imagine yourself and a couple of mates squashed into a 1 donkeypower rolling cake tin tackling thousands of miles of old school adventure. This then, is the Rickshaw Run. Easily the least sensible thing to do with two weeks.
There’s no set route, no back-up and no way of knowing if you’re going to make it. The only certainty is that you will get lost, you will get stuck and you will break down.
Served up in three flavours of adventuring sandwich. Original Indian eye poke, Himalayan tooth punch and Sri Lankan face slap. Cast your eyeballs onwards to find out more about your next adventure.
Choose Your Flavour of 3 Wheeled Adventure…
Behold the Rickshaw
Kneel before engineering’s highest life form. If God had made machines he probably wouldn’t have bothered with a Rickshaw. But he would have been wrong. Essentially, it’s not a very good idea. They’re not very fast, they smell, they fall over when you go round corners and break down more often than a 3 year old. A days driving feels like you’ve been sat on by an elephant. But somehow, all this makes them better. They are, unquestionably, the greatest vehicle on the planet. The only way to to cross thousands of miles of adventure, the very pinnacle of un-style and lost-grace.
We made a video so you could know more True Facts about rickshaws, so if you quest for even more Factness, press the button thing.
Zen and the art of ignorance
Adventure is a word that has had its meaning stamped into the mud of indifference. It has been boil washed by marketing-shits into meaning “holidays without a beach.”
But adventure isn’t a place or an activity. Adventure is not knowing what will happen to you tomorrow or in the next 10 minutes. Adventure is setting forth in a spirit of ignorance. It’s getting lost. It’s getting stuck. It’s getting in trouble. The Rickshaw Run is the stage upon which chaos can be wrought. But you must be very careful not to spoil your own fun. 2 golden rules should be followed.
DON’T PLAN & DON’T TAKE A SMART PHONE
We don’t give a fuck if you get the perfect instagram shot. We would rather you broke your arm in a wrestling competition over a monkey and all you had to show for it was a story nobody believed.
Operation Elect-rickery
Rickshaws are awesome. Their three wheeled prowess on the dirt tracks of adventure needs no sugar coating.
They’re shit uphill. They fall over easily. They break down, The suspension is rubbish, the rain floods in etc… But they have one downside. Their 2 stroke wonder engines are crap for the environment.
We’ve already protected over 9 million trees in the rainforest with our buddies Cool Earth (That’s roughly offset the carbon produced by every single 2 & 3 wheeled vehicle on the planet for a month). Which is great – but it’s obviously better if we produce no emissions in the first place.
So to make sure we do even more to save the World we’ve been hatching Operation Elect-rickery. Our plan to electrify our fleet and help rickshaw wallas do the same along the way.
£8 million for charity so far
When you take on the Rickshaw Run we ask you to raise at least £500 for charity. This goes directly to the charity you’re supporting not via us, so your friends know their pennies are going to a great cause.
We wanted to support something that would actually save the world a bit. Then it hit us like a well-polished brogue to the nuts: “we must save every rainforest in the world so future generations have somewhere to get stuck…and can also breathe.” Not because we’re tree hugging sandal weavers, but because the world would be shit without them.
So we made Cool Earth. our official charity, who are doing an incredible job protecting more rainforest than the UN and all other nation-states on Earth – They are quite literally saving the world. Hats off to them. We ask you to give at least £500 of the the money you raise to them and the rest can go to any charity you like.
The Art of Pimp
With all this engineering genius floating about we were left wondering what can you possibly do to make such a beast better. We realised there is only one thing that could improve the performance of such perfection. And that was the pimp.
Your rickshaw, visually enhanced with your own artwork.
So we rolled up our sleeves and got to work inventing Distance Pimping. You’re at home, the Rickshaw is not, but now all your pimp desires will come true by the marvels of electricity, the interweb and our crack team of pimp artists.
It might be spelled wrong and any faces may end up with a moustache but by goodness gracious is it excellent. And part of taking part in the Rickshaw Run is making sure your ‘shaw is the pimpedest.
The History
The Rickshaw Run was created when Adventurists founder Mr Tom fell in love with the little beasties whilst on a jaunt in India. He came home and was heard repeatedly mumbling something about taking rickshaws into a desert and up some mountains.
After much deciphering, The Rickshaw Run was born. The first edition launched in December 2006 from Kochi, Kerala and snaked its way up to Darjeeling, West Bengal. Nobody knew if it was even possible.
Since these humble beginnings, the Rickshaw Run has grown into a 3 wheeled beast. There have been more than 35 editions, and literally, tens of thousands of people have gathered at the alter of Rickshaw from all corners of the globe.