Malabar Rampage 2015 – Rickshaw Challenge

Hitting the Finishing Line – Malabar Rampage Makes It to Goa

admin — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 13:48:10 +0000

Everyone knows that time flies past when you’re having fun, and this year’s Malabar Rampage has been no exception. The past days we’ve spent flying up the Malabar Coast in a three-wheeled rickshaw has been an adventure, tackling blockades and strikes in Kerala to shaving foam attacks by some of our crazy Aussie participants in Mangalore. With one day left on the Rickshaw Challenge, our teams need to make it to the finish line in Goa – but will they all make it unscathed?

The end of the Challenge – our teams enjoy the party in Goa!

On the morning of the final day, all the teams were excited to rev up to Goa, so bid Murudeshwara goodbye and headed up the coast to their final destination. While getting out of Karnataka was relatively drama free, some of the teams had decided to play a few practical jokes on each other. Brits Skid Mark Racing decided to torment the Aussies in teams The Six and Out Farewell Tour and the Malabar Handlebars but making some alterations to their shaws.

Sabotage – the Malabar Handlebars get an alteration in their rickshaw, courtesy of Skid Mark Racing!

The Malabar Handlebars found that the driver’s seat had been replaced with a toilet, and The Six and Out Farewell Tour found their wheels were tied to a log and their rickshaw was jammed. However, the boys are no innocent victims, since they made the first strike against the Skid Mark Racing back in Alleppey when they started the mischief.
On the way to Panaji, The yNots had an accident on the way. Fortunately, no one was hurt but their rickshaw lost its windscreen. We’re not quite sure what the full story was, but we’re confident that the rickshaw toppled over on the road. The British duo were left unscathed and took the whole thing light-heartedly, posting some pictures making fun of the situation.

The yNots pose after their crash…

… but fellow teams join in to mock their little accident.

Almost all the teams made it in time for the closing ceremony, although Team Tucking Lost broke down 20km from Panaji, but made it for the end of the closing events!

Dutch teams BeunkenBräu and fellow fleet team from Dust Till Dawn.

Team BeunkenBräu took the title as the Champion of the Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage 2015, while team The Six and Out Farewell Tour got the Bonkers Award for being the craziest team on the event.

The Six and Out Farewell Tour might have got the bonkers award, but their fleet members, Malabar Handlebars also deserve recognition!

Team Plucky Tukkers Dewey (along with their fleet teammates in Plucky Tukkers Huey and Plucky Tukkers Louie) raised the most money and donations for the schools supported by our Round Table India partners.

Plucky Tukkers Dewey claim charity award.

But this year’s Malabar Rampage did quite a bit for charity. Team BeunkenBräu raised money for Dutch charity “Plan”, an organisation with the aim at lessening poverty for children. Our team’s specific campaign, “Let Girls Be Born” focuses on the support of women’s issues in developing countries, and have surpassed their initial €1000 target goal by more than €500! Aussie mischief fleet, The Six and Out Farewell Tour and the Malabar Handlebars raised money for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Care Centre back in Australia. So far they have raised over AUD$15,000 with the goal of hitting $20,000.

Skid Mark Racing and Malabar Handlebars do a spot of shaw surfing.

The Polar Bears get checked by the police.

We’re not sure what’s going on here with Team Ram a Lam a Ding Dong…

The official Malabar Rampage might have ended at the ceremony, but our teams went out to paint the town red in Panaji. It’s been a three-wheeled rollercoaster, and all our teams have been troopers! From making chai, giving locals lifts in their rickshaws and having fun on the way, we can safely say that this year’s Rickshaw Challenge was a success!
Get the scores on our sponsor’s site on GamingZion Events!

Are you crazy enough to come along for the ride? Then join us on the next Rickshaw Challenge. Then get a team together and lets see you at the starting line! If you want to join us in spirit, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or Instagram to keep up with our latest antics.

The Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage does Karnataka

admin — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 08:26:34 +0000

Getting out of Kerala proved to be quite a tough challenge for our teams on the Malabar Rampage. Kerala tends to throw up unexpected suprises here and there, and this time it was no exception. Without too much notice, our teams found out that most of the state was shutting down on Wednesday. The Hartal would affect three sectors, from transportation to the fishing industry going on strike, which meant getting petrol would be a mission impossible, not to mention the road blockades by strikers in parts of Kerala. This meant our teams chose to leave the hotel as early as 6:30am in a bid to get out of Kerala and into the state of Karnataka.
The night before, teams fuelled up in Calicut and made sure they tanked up on enough spares to make it out of the state, but arriving in Calicut late and having to queue up for gas dented the spirits a bit. Team manager Princely managed to convince the official hotel to serve an early morning breakfast at 6am, so all the shaws got out early, but the first 5 teams left early while the remaining teams stayed behind to have breakfast. Most of the teams got out, but the Silver Bullets had a problem with their sparkplug holder, which needed mechanical attention. Our teams were certainly troopers though, since one of the challenges we gave them was to give a local a taxi ride in their rickshaw, and we got flood of selfies proving the completed challenge. Nothing says making friends like a brightly coloured rickshaw!

Rickshaw taxi services (top left Three Amigos; top right Team BeunkenBräu; bottom left Sneaky BJ Racing; bottom right Team Ram a Lam a Ding Dong)

However, despite the hartal and over 200km of Kerala to get through, the mood was kind of festive in the group. Thomas Kies from The Six and Out Farewell Tour celebrated his birthday on the road, so we made sure he got a bottle of Indian rum for the occassion! The teams painted Mangalore red in the birthday celebrations before the push onto Murudeshwar the next day.

Birthday boy with a bottle of Old Monk Rum!

But despite the festivities the night before, our teams paid a visit to Bikarnakatte Government School, one of the schools helped out by our charity partners Round Table India. We have collaborated with the Indian charity for years, and over the duration of the lifetime of the Rickshaw Challenge, we have raised almost $300,000 for schools in South India. Our teams got the chance to meet some of the kids who benefit from the charity, before embarking on the rest of their journey.

School visit in Mangalore.

Once out of Kerala, it seemed communal mischief attacked, when the Australians decided to engage in a little drive-by-shaving foam-shooting, with other participants. All the teams also rallied up to do a spot of drag racing on the Indian roads.

Aftermath of the attack, photo from Ram a Lam a Ding Dong.

With one more day to go to Goa, let’s see who takes the championship and we’re anxious to wait to see what antics out teams get up to!

Riding Along with the Malabar Rampage – Getting Out of Kerala

Jennifer — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 12:01:49 +0000

Another Rickshaw Challenge has come and gone in the blink of an eye. Seventeen teams set off on Monday out of Trivandrum with Goa as their destination, and while five days cruising along the Malabar Coastline by auto rickshaw might seem like a smooth dream when compared to some of our more hardcore runs, this year’s teams on the Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage had quite a few challenges – both planned and unplanned – en route.

Our teams take on the mini challenge in Trivandrum! (top left – Three Amigos; top right: BeunkenBräu; bottom left Silver Bullet; bottom right The Polar Bears)

Kerala is a state that might look relaxed and laid back in the travel brochures, but there is so much more going on that just lying on a houseboat drifting through the famous backwaters. Just a couple of days before our teams arrived in India, Kerala put its foot down on the sale of alcohol, where only five star hotels are licensed to carry a fully stocked bar. With a group of Aussies, Brits and other heavy drinking nationalities (excuse the stereotype), we had to do our homework to find places where people can go for a drink. Fortuately, it turned out beer and wine parlours could still operate, so not everything was lost.

Aussie teams The Six and Out Farewell Tour and the Malabar Handlebars find alcohol in Trivandrum.

After a day of training and some warm up challenges to get the ball rolling, our teams kicked off their three-wheeled adventure and sped up towards Alleppey, dubbed as the Venice of the East for its canals that link into the backwaters. Our teams had to learn how to make chai from roadside stalls and find a houseboat on the way, among other tasks. The first day went relatively smoothy, but the next day was not so easy.

Our teams try to make chai! Left – Alexandra from Team BeunkenBräu; top center the Three Amigos, bottom centre The Six and Out Farewell Tour; right – Skidmark Racing.

Even though the first team headed out of Alleppey to Calicut at 7:30am, everyone, including our trip manager Princely, who got to the official hotel at 8:25, arrived late. The last team got in at 10pm. The long journey was broken up with a stop in Kochi, to visit the famous Chinese nets and the spice shops in Mattanchery.

The Three Amigos go spice shopping

However, despite the late arrival in Calicut, the teams were unable to just chill out since the state-wide strike in Kerala the next day, along with an impending road block meant the teams needed not to only fuel up with plenty to spare before heading off to Mangalore, but also meant getting up to leave at 6:30am, just incase there were any problems on the way. Find out more late about our team and how they fared getting to Mangalore only on the Rickshaw Challenge blog!
To find out how the teams fared with the challenges so far, check out the score on our sponsor’s page GamingZion Events!