malabar rampage 2016 – Rickshaw Challenge

The Rickshaw Challenge – Malabar Rampage 2016 Comes to an End

veronika — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 13:36:51 +0000

The last day saw our participants cruising the beautiful streets of India’s smallest state Goa, leading them through enchanted woods and Eden-like beaches on their way from Murudeshwar to Panaji, Goa’s capital.
Driving through the streets was straightforward, as they were rather empty, so the last 250 km were – compared to some other days and generally driving in India – easy as pie. As a result, most of the teams arrived early in Panaji, excited about the upcoming award ceremony. Everyone had plenty of time to kick back and enjoy the hotel pool with a spectacular view over the Goan capital and its rivers… A dozen brave participants decided to start the final party right there and then, while also learning something about Indian culture by trying a shot of feni, Goa’s very own (in)famous spirit, made either out of cashew or toddy palm.

Those Beaches Though! Photo Credit: Jade Hammelmann, Rickshaw Racer

As it turns out, for most of the teams this extensive Indian culture lesson fell under the category “regrettable life choices,” but at least the experience will result in many stories to tell.
Apparently, the only real challenge of the day to arrive in time for the award ceremony, which turned out to be more difficult than expected – although to be fair, Goa’s magical beaches are just way to distracting and make you completely forget about time. Thankfully, in the end, all teams gathered in the “Down the Road Bar”. After everybody received their well-earned medal for successful participation and survival of the Rickshaw Challenge – Malabar Rampage 2016, it was finally time to announce the winners of the different award categories.

Lining Up. Photo Credit: Janardan Prasad, Rickshaw Racer

The Charity Award went to Team Goan Places from the USA and Australia, who succeeded in raising 12 000 USD for Round Table India and are planning on not giving up before hitting the 20 000 USD mark. We are incredibly grateful for all the effort Team Goan Places has put in this and we can assure that this will make a significant difference in the lives of many, many children.
The Bonkers Award, the award for the craziest team with the most – let’s call it interesting – ideas went to Team Butt, Sweat and Ears from Malaysia, with participants from Australia and France. They most definitely deserved the award, solely for squeezing into their rickshaw in their gigantic inflatable sumo ringer costumes!

Team Sumo. Photo Credit: Chris Ong, Rickshaw Racer

Finally, the winner of the Rickshaw Challenge – Malabar Rampage 2016 is Team Champagne, holding a moving, Oscar-worthy acceptance speech right before showering the whole room in Champagne. The following party continued well into the early morning hours.

We Are Proud of You! Photo Credit: Janardan Prasad, Rickshaw Racer

Overall, it was a great rally with amazing participants, who developed a strong team spirit in just a few days. We would like to thank you for being awesome and making our time with you unforgettable!

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

Rickshaw Challenge – Malabar Rampage 2016: Days 5 & 6

veronika — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:46:52 +0000

Day 5:
With a distance of 260km from Calicut to Mangalore, a tiring day lay ahead of our participants, but the reward was something they all coveted: on Wednesday, they would finally leave Kerala and enter the state of Karnataka, where it wouldn’t be as difficult to find a cold beer after a hard day on the road.

En-Route

So, the time finally came to start the Malabar Rampage 2016 party. On the way to the location, our teams had the rare opportunity of being driven in a rickshaw instead of driving one themselves, which was a welcome change for everyone, as they could finally kick back en-route. Our participants feasted and chatted in the warm breeze of the night until late evening. Before that, however, they had to find their way to Mangalore and complete some challenges – they also had the opportunity to check out some amazing sights.

Team Blues Brothers Giving a Ride to Locals

Team Blues brothers fulfilled the challenges with flying colours – they snapped a picture of a team member with a holy man and gave some confused locals a ride in their rickshaw.

Blues Brothers and a Holy Man

The teams had the chance to relive history; they visited Kappad Beach. This is the place where Vasco da Gama landed in 1498, which, as first step in direction of the later colonialization of India, established a permanent sea route from Europe to India. Also a visit to Bekal Fort was possible, a huge fort build by Indians, surrounded by thousands of coconut trees, next to a kilometer long beach.

Bekal Fort

Day 6
This day was going to be a short and easy one, driving just 150km from Mangalore to Murudeshwar on nice broad roads that even had a partitioning stripe in the middle… this small detail can make all the difference when driving on Indian roads. Today’s highlight was Udupi, a quiet little town, famous for its Sri Krishna temple, established back in 13th century. The pit stop in this town was an excellent opportunity for our participants to get some insight into the colourful and devotional religious life of Hindus. Everyone admired the women, who dressed up in their breath-taking saris to visit the temple. Petting and feeding one of the holy cows roaming freely in front of the temple was an absolute must.

Teams Badmaash 1 & 2 Being Rescued

Also it is time for some big thanks to our support team, which is always there when our participants need them, like Teams Badmaash 1 and 2 can tell you. They broke down twice today, and both times our technical miracle workers from Chennai Garage showed up at the scene without even been called, solved the problem within minutes and sent the teams back on the road.

Murudeshwar Temple

The highlight of the day was for sure arriving in Murudeshwar and driving up to the hotel, with the world’s tallest statue of Lord Shiva suddenly showing up on a hill and looking just spectacular in the late afternoon light. The hotel was located directly at the beach, which made for some unforgettable sunset views.

Sunset in Murudeshwar

The teams’ scores can be checked out here.

Malabar Rampage 2016 – Day 3: Trivandrum to Alleppey

veronika — Tue, 05 Apr 2016 12:25:13 +0000

Strange things happened on Monday between Trivandrum and Alleppey. The Beauty and the Beast team were seen in a tea stall, preparing their own chai and some Vikings were spotted cruising along the palm-tree lines in a rickshaw instead of in a long boat in the Norwegian fjords.

Oh, Those Palm Trees!

The Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage 2016 has finally kicked off Monday morning, after a last briefing by The Travel Scientists. Participants dressed up in crazy-cool costumes – one way to make points and get ahead of the competition. You can soon check out the scores of each team here. Some might have regretted their costume choice, like the Team Butt, Sweat and Tears, wearing inflatable sumo ringer suites, which make for a great sauna, or the Beast from Team Beauty and the Beast, who were sweating already in the early morning hours under their shaggy masks. Thankfully, they still had enough persistence to manage the day’s first challenge: making chai in a local tea stall with flying colours and fully dressed up.
The second challenge – taking a photo with a cow – proved to be a bit more difficult, since cows are not the most cooperative photo subjects and tend to simply walk out of the picture.

Our Brave Teams Making Extra Effort with Their Costumes

On their way along the Malabar Coast the teams visited Varkala Beach, a paradise almost free of tourists, with just a few stalls, where our adventurers could take a rest forget about the hustle of the Indian traffic for a while, burry their feet in the sand and enjoy a freshly made coconut shake.
Finally, all of our teams arrived in Alleppey, some earlier, some a few hours after dark, but all unharmed and excited from all the things that happened to them en-route.

Kiwi Kiwi!

The greatest (and hardest) challenge of the day was to fix a hammock between the palm trees, enjoy the slight breeze and stay forever in Kerala, finally understanding why it is also called God’s own country.

The Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage 2016 – Day 1 and 2

veronika — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 08:39:39 +0000

This Saturday, preparations for the Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage have started in Trivandrum, Kerala, where 21 teams from all over the world have gathered to take up the challenge of driving 1000 km along the Malabar Coast in India’s West – in a rickshaw.
After the sign up in the morning, Aravind Bremanandam, Chief Scientist of The Travel Scientists, did the best to prepare the brave adventurers for the craziness of India. Mr. Bremananadam’s wise words “the British couldn’t change us in 200 years, don’t try to do it in 5 days. Just relax”, might be the best advice for the racers facing the madness of Indian roads.

The Rickshaw Challenge – Bringing People Together

In the afternoon they meet their travel companions and second homes on the road for the next week for the first time. The teams familiarized themselves with their rickshaws and discovered – after approaching carefully – the full power of the gas pedal, taking the speeding possibilities of the practicing ground to the maximum.
The first real challenge of the day was a short driving test under the hot tropical sun for all team members before being released onto Indian streets by themselves for the first time. Not all passed with flying colors, but no team was rated a too high danger for the traffic in the end. Also surprisingly all teams returned unharmed from their first independent drive in the real traffic of India. The price for the first crash and the first dent in their rickshaws though goes to the Blues Brothers – luckily nobody was injured or seriously traumatized, except the rickshaw.

Unharmed.

Back in the hotel, the participants were released into the night, which proves to be a special challenge in Kerala, a state which has done its best to ban alcohol. Only some interaction with locals can help to find the hidden places, where you can still have a cool beer running down your throat.
The next day brought the first real challenge for the participants. To warm up with the game they had to find their way to the train station and get a platform ticket, as well as taking a picture of the rickshaw and the team in front of Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple. The rest of the day was leisurely spent with sightseeing, at the beach or just enjoying the hotel’s roof terrace and pool.

Oops.

On Monday life will get a tiny bit more difficult for the teams, since it is time for the Malabar Rampage’s first stage from Trivandrum to Alleppey, journeying into the rural India, visiting one of India’s best beaches and fulfilling challenging task along the way.

Rickshaw Challenge – Malabar Rampage 2016 Starts Tomorrow!

veronika — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 12:30:13 +0000

At last, the moment is here again! Tomorrow morning, our teams will start registering and getting busy for one of the biggest adventures of their life: the Malabar Rampage.

Our 21 fearless teams will learn how to drive a rickshaw and navigate on Indian roads, they’ll hit some bumps on the way, they’ll break down and drive in the wrong direction… but that’s okay, because on the journey, they’ll meet interesting people, see friendly faces, make new buddies and have enormous and crazy parties. They’ll really get to know India’s landmarks, driving through and stopping at places that only a few tourists get the chance to see. Some of our teams will complete all the challenges, while others will be far too lazy, they’ll eat and drink delicacies that they’ve never seen before. The Malabar Coast will provide them constantly with new things to see, new experiences to live through, and our contestants will love every second of it. So, here is to Butt, sweat and tears; Kiwi Express; Chilli Chilli Bang Bang; The Road to Goa; The Blues Brothers; Team Viking; Team Champagne; Team Rising Sun; Happy Daze; Golden Hippo; Badmaash One; Badmaash Two; Stairway; Malabar Mad Hatters; Beauty and the Beast; The Mustache Ride; Goan Places; Team Sausage; Flying Birds; The Autowale and West Coast Rickshaws – good luck to all of you!