The Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run Days 3 & 4: So far so good!

David — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 20:58:55 +0000

The Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run continued on Days 3 and 4, as participants left Pondicherry for Thanjavur, then headed to Madurai to celebrate New Year’s Eve!

After the learning and excitement of the first two days the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2017 kept up its pace on Days 3 and 4, December 30th and 31st. Leaving charming Pondicherry, the next stop was the impressive Thanjavur, a cultural and architectural hub in Tamil Nadu. And before the year was done the participants ended up in Madurai, the wonderful temple city which is home to some of South India’s most impressive temples.

The Classic Run Gives Back

Morning with a visit to a school for hearing impaired children in Pondicherry, which is supported by our charity partner Round Table India. The teams gave presents to the kids of all ages, but they were actually more excited about letting everybody point out their country of origin on a big map in one of the classrooms, which brought a big smile on their faces.Team The Cock and Pullet are still going strong in their full body chicken costumes: we are sincerely impressed! There are several other teams who are still putting in the effort, despite seeming to be glued with sweat to their costumes by now!

Beaches and Bling

Today’s schedule planned a temple visit for the teams, but before getting all spiritual, first a quick visit to Silver Sand Beach in Cuddalore, where the teams could watch fishermen at work. Then we headed to Airvatesvara Temple, dating back to the 12th century, a small detour from the route, but definitely worth it. The temple is entered through a small basin filled with water and as the complex has been compared temples of Angkor it’s certainly a worthwhile sight to see. The evening was either spent shopping for sarees or in the hotel pool – a tough decision to make!

Television and Temples

The next day, the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run was featured on the local TV and the teams used the opportunity to deliver an important message: If you see us on the street, stay away from us, because we don’t know what we are doing! Despite this little handicap, the teams managed to visit the Brihadeeshwara Temple in Thanjavur, one of the 3 great living Chola temples and a UNESCO world heritage site, rather impressive in its size and details. Team Shark Attack had the luck of breaking down in about 50 m distance from a local garage, and thanks to the talented locals were sent back on the road in no time for an incredibly low price.

Goodbye 2016!

At Thirumayam Fort one of the toughest challenges till now was waiting for the teams: climbing to the top and counting all the cannon balls they could find there! (We’re gonna tell you a secret: there are none. Some of the guys are probably still there, looking, searching…). New Year’s Eve meant a sumptuous party at the Taj Hotel in Madurai – as far as we can remember…

Happy new year to everybody! Stay tuned for the first adventures of 2017!

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 and Instagramto keep up with our latest antics.

Temples, goats and potholes – Ride along from Pondicherry to Thanjavur

admin — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 04:57:24 +0000

Leaving the cyclone behind, day 2 on the Rickshaw Challenge took us away from the coast into deep Tamil Nadu, into the mysical world of ancient temples, goats that eat everything, friendly locals, terrible roads and of course, more breakdowns.
Day 2, Pondicherry to Thanjavur
After a night of partying, most of our teams slumped in the hotel lobby nursing a hangover during the briefing. While the ride to Pondicherry might have had its challenges, our teams had no idea just what the country roads of inland Tamil Nadu had to offer for the day.
The teams sped through Pondicherry’s labyrinthine streets over to the seafront for the flag off from the Gandhi statue, although, the event wasn’t without chaos. Amidst the members of the Indian press and our participants, street salesmen flocked over with mini chess sets and statues of Ganesh, shaking things up a bit. In the pandemonium, South African team Hakuna Matatu lost the keys to their rickshaw. They must have found them though, since next we heard from them they were making friends with locals who helped them during a breakdown.

“It’s the mayoral send-off at the beach front and team Hakuna Matata has lost its keys…” photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu

On the road to Thanjavur, we stopped off in two towns famous for their temples. I ran into some of the teams having lunch in Chidambaram in what looked like a converted garage covered with a corrugated roof and simple tables and chairs. The food came served up on a banana leaf, a delicious mix of rice, vegetarian curries and hot pickles, and made us forget the dodgy look of the place. It was packed with locals, which as a rule of thumb means the food is good and less likely to incur the infamous “Delhi Belly”.

Chidambaram – The Temple of the Dancing God

The Nataraja Temple, dedicated to Shiva as the Dancing God, was unfortunately closed until 4pm, however, we managed to catch a glimpse of the towering gopurams, gateway towers leading into the temple. We had to make do with snapping photos through the bars barricading the brightly coloured Dravidian structure. Then at the small market area outside the temple, a goat dragged a string of flower garlands off one of the tables, only to have the owner chase after the goat to get them back. This, however, was not the only flower-hungry goat encountered on the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2015, but the Bavarian Barbarians also snapped a photo of a goat eating more flower garlands off the Wacky Racer’s rickshaw!

“Of course you can eat the decoration…” photo by Martin Schmidmaier from the Bavarian Barbarians

Our next port of call was the mystical town of Kumbakonam famed for its temples and fortune tellers. It might look like any other local junction town, but it was once a seat of medieval power, and has a number of spectacular temples. At the entrance of one of the temples, some of the women stopped us, pointing to our shoes, indicating we had to take them off and leave them at the steps.

The Kumbeshwara Temple in Kumbakonam.

I braved leaving my shoes and peeked inside the temple. Wandering around, it’s hard to gauge just how vast the complex is, where pilgrims sleep under the colonnade and a group of women in sparkling red saris disappear down the candle lit corridors. It was only after leaving, when I heard from one of my team members that the corridors lead to a huge lake, where the women went to bathe in their garments.
After a swig of coconut water, I hopped into the Ambassador car to trail the teams back to Thanjavur. We broke down somewhere in the country side about 15km outside the city, pushed the car for about half a kilometer before getting towed into town by a truck with a motorbike, a TV and a guy sitting in the back.

“Back street surgery…” photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu.

We only broke down once, but most of our rickshaw drivers reported a breakdown count of more then 20! Eat My Shawdust got lost on the way to Thanjavur, and Princely had to go and rescue them. Game of Horns made it back late, since they turned into a taxi service for the locals en route, and so did the Christmas themed Aussies Mighty Mouse and the Triangle, who tipped their rickshaw not far from the hotel. Fortunately a big crowd gathered around and tipped them back upright – an event worthy of a feature in the local newspaper.

Group selfie on the road! Photo by The Trashbags