After a successful weekend of practice and first day on the road, the Tamilnadu Run had more exploring to do. Here is Princely’s final Rickshaw Challenge report until the Classic Run begins in more than two months!

Long Distance to Thanjavur

On the Pondicherry morning we had briefing at 8 am on the dot. Being long distance and with bad roads to navigate, I warned all the tree teams beforehand. As expected the teams immediately started and left. As we had a beach spot in Cuddalore town as a challenge for the day, I instructed the mechanic team to get the detour and check whether any team is there on the spot. So by the time the Mechanic team called up, it was 10 am. By the word of the shop keeper there we got the information that two teams came to the beach and left. Then the mechanic team was in hot pursuit to catch them before the next town called Chidambaram. But no, the mechanics could not catch the teams there.

In our day sheet we had marked a lunch recommendation at Puthur, called Jayaram mess, and known for its good fish. I reached the place at 12.30 pm and within half an hour all the teams arrived. Oh what a site to watch 6 foreigners having meals at the thatched roof eating spot. It was a show of amusement to the locals and the serving team there was super exited and they were asking them whether the spice was ok giving them the very best service. Then it was pretty much a straight drive to Thanjavur. Somewhere after Kumbkonam town the sky got absolute crazy dark. Within five minutes the rain started pelting down heavily. The rain was there until 20 km and when I started approaching Thanjavur the sun started shining brightly again. Teams came in to the hotel around 5.30 pm. The gorgeous looking swimming pool in Tanjavur base hotel become the spot for the teams. Probably they settled there till 10 pm and stories after stories were evident from their roaring sound of laughter.

The Way to Yercaud

Thanjur morning was again an early morning start. The day drive was a straight drive for me without any call and surprisingly not bumping in to any team for the whole day. I was in Yercaud at 3 pm after a good lunch at the recommended hotel in day sheet called Selvi mess near the Salem new bus stand. All the while the mechanic team could not work out where the teams were. It was around 4.30 pm the mechanic team reached the foot hills of Yercaud and started waiting. Till 5 pm there was no trace of teams. Then I messaged the teams to know about the where about. Then I hurried them by warning them about the last stretch will take about an hour and half and to start immediately to claim the hills. Still Team 1 made it to the foot hills at around 5.45 pm. Then the mechanics tailed them. The first team to reach the base hotel was Team 2 ‘Keep Karma and Carry Omm’ and it was 6 pm. The next team was team 3 ‘The Coxes’ to reach the hotel and they came at around 6.30 pm. It became pitch dark. Team 1 ‘One-Eyed Wonder weasels’ had tough time driving the hill in the dark. They had to literally push the vehicle a couple of times and Darrell refused to take the mechanic help as he wants the full credit to doing it by himself. Yeh! They did it. It was around 7 pm that they made it to the hotel. The lit up Salem view from the hills was amazing. And the bar was occupied only with the three teams bragging about the drive on few beers and cocktails.

Lazy Day to the Holy City of Tiruvanamalai

Yercaud morning was misty. Being a hill station the life comes alive only after 8 in the spot. I was ready at 7.30 am and came to the reception. Arun the Chennai garage leader of mechanic team came there as well. It was Darrell who came at 7.45 there. Dropping his bags checking his vehicle he went for the breakfast and it was not ready. It was 8 am that they started the breakfast spread at the base hotel. The briefing was held at 8.30 am and the teams immediately left to the next destination. The routes were discussed and the challenge was explained to them. That was absolutely a no-nonsense day and I crossed the teams at Uthangarai a town before 60 km to the destination. The base hotel had many activities, most notably milking a cow. David Smith of Team 2 ‘Keep Karma and carry on’ had his fortune checked by a parrot. Thus the non-eventful day came to an end in a village set up resort in Thiuvanamalai.

Reaching Chennai

The last day drive started early at 8 am from Tiruvanamalai. Some of the teams visited the amazing temple complex which is considered huge in Indian standards of temple. Then the teams did the Chengi fort before catching the main highway to Chennai. The recommended hotel for the lunch in Thindivanam was visited by two teams except team no.2. The mechanics had no clue till the finish of the day where these teams were. About 80 km before Chennai the rain showed a sign of scare. I had to drive slow and I could only imagine those three wheeled open-ventilated rickshaw. They would have had a tough time negotiating that for sure. My family had bid goodbye to the teams that morning as the plan was to drop them home before I concluded the rally at the base hotel and then washing down at the flag off planed at Elements hostel. All the 3 teams made it well in time and at 7.30 pm we had the finish ceremony at our Elements hostel.

At the finish, I heard a lot of interesting stories from the team about their fuelling experiences. Many head wobbles, fewer suggestions to light up the activities. Team 2 knocked a two wheeler when they tried reversing and paid 300 rupees for the damage. Alesha of Team 1 is a safety inspector in Canada who mainly inspects building sites. She was amazed by the absolute violation of safety measures in India. Life of the working class in India is taken for granted and I pacified her by my silly statement of citing the population as the reason. One or two life sacrifice is ok for the most densely populated country in the world. That was definitely a tongue in cheek statement which took the serious concern to a laughing material. I was also amused to learn the the meaning of the team name ‘One-eyed wonder Weasels’. The Champions were decided by the makeover and Team 3 ‘The coxes’ were awarded for their Halloween theme make over. Such came the end to all exciting Tamilnadu Run 2018. See you for another adventure soon. Until then its ‘bye’ from me and the entire team.

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Meet-Up

 

 
The last rally in the calendar year is compact, starting and finishing in Chennai. Covering the states Tamilnadu and (briefly) Pondicherry, this is an amazing rally for participants who want a more relaxed experience than is possible on some of our other events. This rally has three teams of couples from Canada and UK. There is one participant from Polond, but even she is residing in London for a long period of time. Beginning from Chennai is a great advantage for me as I can start from home for the registration. Mentioning 3 teams does not mean that my work will be any easier, as all the remaining elements of rally are intact and punctuality is no less priority than in any other events. Sharp at 9 the organization team set up the registration counter in the lobby of the base hotel.
 

 
The first team to arrive at the registration was ‘The Coxes’. The Canadian Team ‘One-Eye wonder weasels’ was the next to follow. The third team ‘Keep Karma and Carry Omm’ had their pick-up from airport scheduled at 10.45 am. By calculating the time, we could presume that they would not make it to the hotel until 11.30 am. Thus the briefing was scheduled at 11 am was postponed to half an hour. Our staff kept tracking the pickup driver and to our relief everything went on smooth and the team arrived at 11.45 am, only 15 minutes later than we anticipated. The briefing went smoothly in spite of the delay. Straight from the airport and having just completed some 20 hour of journey did not slow down Team 2. Just a shower freshened both the members of the team but by the time they came for the practice they were absolutely enthusiastic and rocking.
 

Practice

 

 
The second session, at the Practice ground, went as smoothly as the briefing. The only let down was learning that none of the female compatriots are going to drive. It was just three drivers to teach. As all had done bikes and manual gears, it was only a very short time before they learnt the art of driving three wheels. After teaching them the basics, teams were let loose on the crazy Indian traffic. Then it’s like taking the bull by its horn. All the teams were brave enough and they were raring to go. First drive was to fuel and then to the base hotel. All went well except for Team 2, who had some issue, finding the rickshaw kept rolling and they needed a little support to reach the hotel. Thus the first day came to a close at the fellowship, arranged in Elements hostel. The second day involved a mini challenge, which Teams started at 11 am. I sat at the lobby of the base hotel and the support crew was kept ready at the same place. There was no call to attend that day as all the teams finished their task and reached the base hotel safely.
 

Hitting the Road!

 

 
On Day 3 of the Tamilnadu Run, the real journey started. I had decided to take my family with the trip as it coincided with the holiday for my kids. So the first thing at the day brief was introduction of my family to the participants. Then it was time to give information on the road, the weather and potential dangers for the teams. We flagged of from the base hotel at 8.30 am, without any hitch. The only break down on the whole day was Team 2 running out of fuel. Reaching Pondicherry well in time teams enjoyed beach and all of them settled early as they were tired by the drive in the hot sun.
All photos in this blog are the property of the Travel Scientists.
 

 
 

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Eager to Learn

From the classroom…
 

… to the practice ground.
 

Fantastic Costumes

The cool.
 

The interesting.
 

The scary.
 

And the couple.
 

The Pongal Challenge

Playing with fire.
 

Celebrating victory.
 

A great group!
 

Always Ready for a Photo

Sometimes the driver keeps their eyes on the road…
 

Sometimes they don’t….
 

Sometimes the rickshaw is moving fast…
 

Sometimes it isn’t…
 

The beautiful Rickshaws

Just because.
 

Ready to race!
 

The Final Ceremony

Medals for everyone!
 

Winners of the ‘Bonkers’ Trophy: Team “Paddy Losties”.
 

The overall winners: Team “Morning Glory”.
 

And finally, a big thanks to everyone for participating!
 

 

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Day 5

 

 
The Tanjavur Morning is the Diwali morning in India. With sound of crackers all around and a few new movie releases the roads were looking like a war zone. Busted crackers papers were everywhere. After breakfast the teams were briefed and started from Thanjavur towards Yercaurd. Team 1 ‘Moggambozos’ called me within half an hour from time they started. It was the filling mistake of oil and fuel mixture. And it was not the last time. They almost called me 4 times in the same day for the same problem. Even though the water bottle trick was explained to them they could not implement it as they thought that will be alright to do it the way it is followed in the petrol station.
 

 
All the teams went to Tiruchirapalli, the rock fort town and some of the teams were lucky to find an elephant! As it was a Diwali day most families were out on the road and to see a foreigner in their vicinity exited them and they all queued up for a selfie. They were treated like Hollywood stars and Jemma Pawlyszyn from Team 10 resembled Angelina Jolie. The problem Team 1 had whenever they filled up continued and they lost lot of time; my guess was that they were going to be driving at dark in mountain road.
 

 
The fist team to arrive at the base hotel was Team 12 ‘Mitra Firm’. The Base hotel had a great view of the valley looking at the closest town Salem. The next team to arrive was Team 3 ‘Weightwatchers’ and they drove in at around 4.30 pm. After that the rest of the teams came in one by one before 6 pm except three teams. The three teams were Team 10, Team 9 and Team 1. Team 1 was caught up by the mechanics and they were following close to avoid any bad light issue. Team 10 and Team 9 worked together eventually to make it to the base hotel. When they arrived it was around 7 pm and it took another half an hour for team 1 to reach the hotel. All of the teams spoke about the view of the hotel and they witnessed the Diwali celebration of bursting crackers form the base hotel in Yercard. It was a mesmerizing view and even better with beer . There were some programs organized by the base hotel for Diwali and all the teams enjoyed the night thoroughly.
 

 
Team 13 spoke about a close call with a two wheeler and bus in the mountain path to Yercaurd and they were lucky to escape from the mishap, understood from the story I heard from them. That is why we warn you enough before you join this fun. Many vehicles consumed much more fuel than what they usually consume on mountain road. The real adventure gave all the teams an feeling of accomplishment and the peacefully valley gave them the wisdom of world where they would have least expected. A completely packed day came to end.
 

Day 6

 

 
The mountain sunrise with lot of birds’ voices to wake up is like waking up in a fairy tale. The previous day crackers sound and smoke has left an effect in mind and environment. Like the calm after storm, Yercaurd morning gave a quiet feel to all the participants. Yercaud day is the judging morning for the makeover competition. Some of them made effort and some of them tried to convince me that they made effort. Whatever it was, it is a fun morning to begin with. After the briefing all the teams took the wheels and started after the judging of the competition. Team 10, Team 13and Team 7 took good effort to exhibit their makeover.
 

 
Drive to Tiruvannamalai is relatively easy drive without much calls and even though there were some calls most of them were sorted out before the mechanics could get to them. Team 7 had clutch issue before reaching Tiruvannamalai temple. It was sorted out by the mechanics in no time and they were back on track again. Team 1 to 6 tried Sathanur dam (a detour of 15 KM recommended in day sheet). Due to holiday it was crowded and they could not enjoy the place as they expected. All the teams were well on time and the day ended peacefully at a vegetarian and no alcohol hotel. Everybody enjoyed the peace there.
 

Day 7

 

 
The Last day had a different twist. Team 1 to 6 (the birthday party people) wanted to celebrate the finish on their own in a expensive hotel in the outskirts of Chennai. So the briefing became a finish party Part 1. The mementos were distributed and they were awarded with the Charity award for their overall contribution of distributing many things to the school and public. Team box car 2 had a issue with the break at the start of the day. It was sorted out at Gingee fort where the teams ventured to the top of the fort to take pictures. After that it was pretty much a smooth call except few niggles from team 3 and team 1. Team 7 had their carburetor blocked and it was sorted out by the locals itself. Finally all the teams arrived safely to the base hotel and as I said the Birthday party teams also reached their hotel without any problem.
 

 
The finish at the Elements hotel was fun with some fireworks, beer and lots of sprit. Team 13 “Morning Glory” was judged as the champions and The Irish boys ‘The Paddy Losties ‘were judged the bonkers for their long stand of drinking and entertaining other teams throughout the rally. With such happy note the Tamil Nadu run 2017 came to a perfect 10 finish and all departed happily.
 

 
See you in next fun and until then its bye from me and the total team of Rickshaw challenge.
 

 
Happy Diwali !
 

 

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The first two days of the Tamilnadu Run Rickshaw Challenge 2017 were a great success. Here is organizer Princely with his recap of days 3 + 4:

Tamilnadu Run Day 3

It was overcast climate in Chennai with occasional drizzles on the Monday morning of Tamilnadu Run 2017. Team 10 ‘Jecky’ who missed the first two days joined in the morning. It was around 5.30 am when they gave a message from the hotel about some issues at check in. Immediately it was sorted out with the reception and they checked in the base hotel. I went to the base hotel from my house and reached there at around 7.30 am. By that time the Chennai Garage team had assembled to receive the luggage from the participants. As a routine the bags were collected and tagged for the transport in luggage vehicle. One by one all the teams dropped their bags and went for breakfast.

The Chennai morning briefing was held at 8.15 am. Within no time all it was over and all the teams moved from the base hotel. As usual I had my breakfast after that and started my journey towards Pondicherry. I got a call from Team 1 at around 11 am, when I was at Sadar Fort (where a challenge is based). They ran out of petrol, but before I could think about helping them, I received another call form the team saying they were helped by another team and got moving. Later I learnt that they were helped by Team 8 ‘Box Car 3’. There was absolutely no call after that except Team 4 who had issues just 5 km before the destination at Pondicherry. They were helped by the locals and they came much before the service team could reach the base hotel.

Team 10 was helped a while to ferry the Chennai traffic as they had no practice at all. Babu, our eligible and experienced mechanic from Chennai Garage accompanied them and trained them on the outskirts and they drove themselves to the destination. That is the proficiency the Chennai Garage people bring to the service of the Rickshaw Challenge. During the debriefing time I asked the team whether they were confident on taking the wheels on their own and they said thumps up for that.

Tamilnadu Run Day 4

A tough day started with a school visit in Pondicherry. Briefing and then the introduction of Round Tablers went on time and all the teams were planned to convey to the school. The Round Tablers were to lead the pack. Right at the start of the convey Team 4 ‘The Cha “Bad” Boys’ had issues. By that time the convey started and we had to take the team and rest of them continued. As they were a team of 6, I could not take Spencer and Laurance, and they got a local taxi to get to the project school. Then the Chennai Garage mechanics got the vehicle right and drove it to them to hand over.

There was a call from Team 1 just after I finished my breakfast. They had flooded their carburetor, but before the Chennai Garage team could reach them they got fixed by the locals and got moving. Later in the day I got a call from Team 4 again, they informed me that their vehicle is not performing fair enough to compare with the other teams. They were at Vaithishwaran Koil that time and it got fixed in no time but the team wanted to test the vehicle for another 10 km to make sure the vehicle is in good condition. We agreed and so the Chennai Garage team followed them and eventually received a great thumps up from them.

Finally at Tanjavur the town was preparing for the Diwali. The artillery road from the old bus stand to the hotel was closed and there was a sea of people who were busy shopping for the auspicious day. Every team had their own story on paving the way to the base hotel. Team 10 who had a shopping spree in various places got delayed and their last 10km was guided. Finally at the base hotel, teams had dip in the swimming pool, beer, food and loads and loads of fun stories to end the day. Thus the grueling day of Tamilnadu Run came to end.

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Tamilnadu Run 2017 Day 1

 

 
Welcome back to you all, to yet another edition of the fantastic, super crazy, adventurous Tamilnadu Run. Personally, after a grueling 14-day trip from Mumbai to Chennai on the Mumbai Xpress 2017, this 7-day rally can be compared to a weightlifter whose personal best is 100kg lifting 50kg. But that does not mean this event will be any less mad (and scary…), or that participants will be any less excited (and anxious…)! Come; lets venture in to the fun new ride with new members on the deck.
 

 
As staff of the Travel Scientists, I always look for the entry of the first person to the registration like a young bird for its first fly. Puskar from Team 12 entered the reception first — an Indian origin gentleman from USA. His parents are from Bihar (Indian state) and he was educated in Ninital. At dot 9 am on 14.10.2017 the registration of Tamilnadu Run started. Some of the teams were staying in the base hotel already and we made some notice to those guys from the reception.

 

 
Interestingly for this rally we have 6 teams together from UK. Laurance Holyoake from UK thought to treat his friends for his birthday and guess what he chose for the treat? Yeah! The rickshaw Challenge in India. They all arrived in the same time and made the registration team gasp for air with too many people asking too many questions. Slowly and steadily the registration team of Travel Scientists brought back normalcy to the situation: their previous experiences gave them the tools to handle any situation with patience and utmost accuracy. Then all the teams registered in succession except Team 10, as they had issues with their visa and they could not make it for the start of the rally.
 

 
Next on the agenda was the all-important briefing. During the briefing the teams were taught that they should use their sense of humor rather than questioning the system in India. After briefing all the teams were asked to find their way to the practice ground in a suburb quite far from the base hotel.
 

 
By 1.30 pm Team 13 ‘Morning Glory’ was the first team at the ground. They got there by using a local taxi tuk tuk. I believe that the driver gave them a fair idea of how to drive a tuk tuk, or rather how not to. One by one all of the teams (except Team 10) assembled at the practice ground and with a small instruction and introduction to the machine all the teams started their practice. In no time they all became good drivers. After an hour of practice they were taught a few other drills to master the Indian traffic. A small competition to test their skills was conducted there and then when they were all asked to fill up the fuel tank in the closest filling station. I went completely wrong by mentioning that there is a fuel station within 2km of the ground and all the teams held a grudge against me for that misguidance… until the welcome party that is, where I repaid them by offering a beer.

 
Cheers! Down came the party at Elements Hostel at around 8 pm. There were a few teams who missed the party being too tired. But the first day came to an end with the two Irish men from Team 11 ‘The Paddy Losties’ enduring the party till right till the end. They lived up to their national pride.

Tamilnadu Run 2017 Day 2

 

 
The Mini challenge day becomes a Mega challenge day for this rally. We from Travel Scientists thought of a novel idea to keep the participants interested and to feel the local culture and introduced a cooking challenge with the help of Round Table members. The cooking task was to cook Pongal, a traditional rice dish, by themselves from the ingredients provided by us.

 

 
It was around 12 noon that all the teams had assembled at the lobby. After a small briefing on what is expected to be done for the day and a brief description of the route, all the teams started to the school that Round Table India support. The school is also the venue for the Pongal cooking competition. Everything went smoothly and the teams were offered dhotis and sarees (for men and women respectively). What a day it turned out to be: everyone had fun making Pongal and the eventual winner of the completion was Team 2 ‘Pickey Boys’. The teams were judged by the school teacher and the Round Table coordinator Mr Vasu. The teams were flagged off by the Round Tablers and made it back to the base hotel it was around 5.30 pm. Looking forward more fun and excitement in the coming days!
 

 

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