The Rickshaw Challenge Malabar Rampage does Karnataka

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!
 

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.

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.

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.

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!