You know the feeling. We don’t need to describe it to you in great detail. But we will anyway…

It’s a bit like really needing a poo whilst riding a bike on a windy gravel road. Now, that doesn’t sound too good, does it? But then it’s Christmas day, and it’s a brand new bike that Santa somehow squeezed down your chimney. And you need a shit because you’re so god damn excited, and because you have a colon stuffed with Christmas dinner. Now, that sounds a bit better, doesn’t it?

Well, that’s kind of like what it’s like to drive a rickshaw.

2025 marked twenty years since the first glimmer of the now infamous Rickshaw Run appeared in Mr Tom’s head cavity. He was in India to try and make up for past misdemeanours by scrubbing some lepers. Armed with just some linen pants and a stiff nylon brush, he stepped out of the airport, and a rickshaw pulled up. He was instantly clobbered by a rickshaw shaped mallet of love. One year later, the first-ever Rickshaw Run teams wobbled forth from Fort Kochi, aiming for Darjeeling. Nobody had a clue if it was possible, but damn it, they’d try. 

The Finish Line of the first Rickshaw Run, Darjeeling, North India. December 2006.

Fast forward to 2025…

…and things are still, thankfully, just as stupid. 

It’s been a blinder of a year for the Rickshaw Runs. We had all the usual chaos in India, Sri Lanka and across the Himalayas.  Plus we saw the introduction of a brand new event – The Rickshaw Run South India, which we’re pleased to say was a roaring success.

A shorter than usual Run for people who don’t necessarily have time for a longer Run, it squashes the gifts of beaches, tiger reserves and mountains into a bulging sock of a week. So you can fly out, overwhelm yourself with joy for seven days, then fly home, wondering if it was all just an acid flashback from your party days.

Records were broken…

We may have broken the world record for the most humans ever squeezed in/onto a rickshaw on this one too. On the Rickshaw Run South India November, the runners set a heroic new record of thirty-two. Cosy…

Thirty-two runners in a rickshaw, Rickshaw Run South India November 2025.

Kudos also goes to the upstanding gents from Team Legion Riders who tackled the October edition of the Rickshaw Run South India. Despite it being only a short blast of adventuring havoc, they managed to raise a rather remarkable £21,000.00 for their chosen charities. They also accidentally drove through the middle of a tiger reserve where, by pure luck, they managed not to die. Bravo chaps.

Vikesh, Rikkin and Kalpesh of Team Legion Riders on the Rickshaw Run South India October 2025.

Meanwhile in Sri lanka…

Speaking of teams managing not to be mangled by wild beasts, the ladies from Team GOT #The Sri Lanka Chapter had a closer shave than they probably would have liked on the Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka March 2025.  And no, we don’t mean in the beauty salon, but when an elephant attacked their rickshaw. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but the nimble-trunked dumbo did somehow manage to steal one of the ladies’ purses. We can only imagine it’d been hanging out with some Liverpudlians, or had a penchant for lipstick.  

We don’t have any pictures of that particular mugging itself. However, we find it’s a common (yet understandable) delusion that when pootling across Sri Lanka in a rickshaw, you are king of the road. Purse-stealing elephants serve as a gentle reminder that you are most definitely not…

Excellent life choices.

Also whilst in Sri Lanka, the wonderful Sherry Grant from Team Bali Belly Bandits, a 70-year-old grandmother, got a rickshaw tattoo on her arse at the pit stop party, and then pulled her pants down on the dance floor and proudly showed everyone. An excellent life choice indeed if staying at home and knitting mittens, whilst smelling faintly of piss isn’t your thing. Being the demure organisation we are, we have shied away from an actual picture of Sherry’s disco-lit backside. But here’s a shot from Sherry on the road and another tattoo applied to the leg of a member of Team Snack Attacker on the same Run…

Congratulations must also go to Hannah and Stacy of Team Exhaust Appeal. After spending a week crammed into a hot, sweaty box, they decided to keep that very same feeling alive forever by getting engaged. Our felicitations, ladies.  It is all rather romantic on the Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka after all…

Cyclone Ditwah.

Finally, on a more serious note and at the time of writing, Sri Lanka has just experienced some of it’s worst flooding on record due to the devastation wrought upon the island by Cyclone Ditwah. The people and authorities of Sri Lanka are working to restore critical infrastructure and rebuild the areas hit hard by the storm, but they need funds to help do that. If you’re reading this, and in a position to donate even a small amount to help, you can do so via the Sri Lankan government’s official fund, Rebuilding Sri Lanka.

In 2025 so far, the teams of the Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka have raised £35,000.00 for Cool Earth. Climate related storms like this one are exactly the reason we think giving back a bit to look after the planet we adventure around is a worthy thing to do. You can see more about the charity side of our adventuring stupidity here.

Three wheeling across India’s really pointy bits.

Whilst the teams above enjoyed the tropical adventure lullaby that is the Rickshaw Run Sri Lanka and South India, others reached god-like status by persuading a rickshaw up some of the world’s most formidable mountains. The Rickshaw Run Himalaya is a 10 day marathon of an adventure, taking teams and their trusty steeds from the deserts of Rajasthan, through the foothills and up 3,500 meters up into the crests of the world’s highest mountain range.

Here’s a photo-blast of some of the best bits of the Runs that thundered forth in July and August this year.  Stars, ravines, waterfalls, free outdoor spas, glaciers, questionable balance, roof-top meditation opportunities and serene pit stops… all in a day’s adventuring for the Rickshaw Runners of the Himalayas.

Inconsistent glamour.

Though you could be convinced by these pictograms that the Rickshaw Run Himalaya is nothing but glamour, we can assure you it’s not always so. For some, this adventure serves up a healthy dose of humility and frustration, as experienced by Team Blessed and Stressed on the August edition this year.

Excitingly (kind of), they hit a first for the Rickshaw Run. Since 2006, nobody’s ever managed to actually lose their rickshaw…until now. Not content with merely driving a rickshaw across the Himalayas (something already quite tricky), this team decided to make it even more challenging by launching their rickshaw into a ravine, never to be seen again. As the rickshaw tumbled through 1000 feet of space into the raging river below, we imagine they felt a tad more stressed than blessed.

Still, we suppose that if nothing has gone wrong, then everything must have gone wrong, and the Rickshaw Run Himalaya most certainly lives up to it’s adventure status. Landslides, trucks to contend with whilst navigating sheer drops and altitude sickness all make a cameo appearance. They collude to make the already adventuresome experience of driving high up into the mountains in a vehicle designed for nipping about town alluringly more precarious.

Back to where we started

Despite our 3-wheeled meanderings into the tropics and the hills, we’re still rather fond of where it all started. The Rickshaw Run still launches and finishes in Fort Kochi, launch place of the first ever Run. And hundreds of Runners still thrust themselves forth into the unknowns of adventure across almost the entire length of India to raise charity funds and to hopefully satisfy the part of themselves that yearns for a life less ordinary.

All our teams happen to be the most splendid of humans. But here we cover three tales of adventure that conjure up some of the pillars of the Rickshaw Run. 

Pointless mileage.

We start with some heroically pointless miles tucked under the belt. Will, Matt and Kaleb, three Kiwis from “The Pakeha Patrol” on the Rickshaw Run September 2025 edition, decided to lob any semblance of common sense out of the non-windows of their rickshaw and traverse the subcontinent to check out the East Coast of India. They stayed there for about 9 minutes before turning around and heading straight back to Goa for the pitstop party – adding more than 1200km to their trip.

Don’t believe us? We don’t blame you. But they did – here they are on our tracking map taking a swift diversion across India and back. 

Adventuring feats.

Talking of adventuring heroics, a certain Japanese team “JOEVLOG”, on the Rickshaw Run January 2025, managed to make it the entire way (that’s about 3000 kilometers of India) without speaking a lick of English or Hindi. They also managed to pay only for petrol after falling victim to the famous hospitality of the locals. Their video series on you tube is an excellent watch. Bravo chaps.  You can join the admiration here. 

Fundraising feats.

Team Little spicy please !! wobbled from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan to Fort Kochi, Kerala on the Rickshaw Run September 2025. They racked up an impressive €10,000 for our official charity partner Cool Earth whilst doing so. Them’s some excellent karma points right there. You can find their adventuring on Insta-spam, where they have most splendidly documented their 3-wheeled teetering across India. 

So in summary, another rather preposterous year of rickshaw-ing mastery. And these are just a handful of the stories we hear about. Just imagine all the ones no one wants to tell us about…

Feel like adding your own style of cretinism to the annals of the Rickshaw Run?

Of course you do. Well, the good news is that there’s probably space for you on one of the Runs in 2026. So instead of buying a shit kettle you don’t need in yet another crap Black Friday deal, treat yourself to something that you actually want and sign up…

Toodle pip.