Watch: These men went on a 2764-km auto-rickshaw run, from Cochin to Jaisalmer
‘The only certainty is that you will get lost, you will get stuck, you will break down.’
More than ten years ago, a group of people named the Adventurists started what they call a “Rickshaw Run” in India. The adventure organisation, self-dubbed “the world’s greatest generator of chaos”, held the first auto-rickshaw rally across India in 2006, and have diligently held the run between two and four times every year since then.
The auto-rickshaw – which has a unique name in every country where it is in use – can lay a claim to be India’s most useful but notorious vehicle. It’s a lifesaver and a necessity for many in both big cities and small towns, but comes with a certain lack of stability, accentuated by reckless driving and dollops of attitude.
All of this, of course, made the Indian auto-rickshaw the ideal vehicle for the Adventurists.
There have been 33 editions of the Rickshaw Run since 2006 with participation from over 2009 teams, leading to more than 87 hospitalisations and over 15,000 breakdowns. The runs have taken place across India since they typically cover large distances. There have even been some editions in the Himalayas (videos below), which participants described as “the original Rickshaw Run but on steroids.”
One of the teams documented its 2,654-km run from Cochin to Jaisalmer, and the video (above) is nothing if not entertaining. The team goes through ups and downs (literally) and gets more than its fair share of mishaps along the way.
