Hello and welcome to our Rickshaw Run Winter 2009 webpage.
Yes, it's true! Iain Greenlees, Ian Richmond and Kevin "Wildcard" Finlayson are setting off on an adventure of a lifetime and would like you to support us. We will be travelling from Pondicherry in Southern India to Shillong in North East India (about 1500 miles) in January 2009 driving a Tuk Tuk ( a 3 wheeled motorised vehicle, top speed of 55kph). Demanding enough for anyone but for myself (an academic with little practical ability and the driving skills of Mister Magoo), Ian (a mobility scooter entrepeneur who once fell out of a rickshaw taking him from one end of Leicester Square to the other) and Wildcard (a financial planner & pocket sized action man) it may be even more tricky! Thus we need your support.
We are fund raising for 3 charities:
1. Frank Water (if you want to donate to this charity please go to www.justgiving.com/rajagainstthemachine-frankwater or click on the first Justgiving link below)
2. Mercy Corps (if you want to donate to this charity please go to www.justgiving.com/rajagainstthemachine-mercycorps or click on the 2nd Justgiving link below))
3. Cancer Research UK. As you may know, both Ian's have lost close family members (Iain's sister, Fiona & Ian's father, Derek)and friends in recent years. To donate, just click on the last justgiving link below).
So please give generously - it's for a number of good cause, it is in memory of 2 very special people, it is dangerous and we are totally underprepared............
Most recent blog...
WE MADE IT!!
At 07:13 on 14-01-2009 Iain said...
Hello everyone. First, sorry for the lack of updates for the last couple of days. The problem was that in Assam and Meghalaya (where we are now) there is no mobile phone coverage for phones registered outside of those states. Evidently this is due to the high levels of terrorist activities in those states. You would have thought someone would have warned us!
Anyway, the last few days have been great. We arrived in a city called Bongaigoan on monday night having been told that it was a good place to stay by another team. We arrived at the hotel and then wandered down to the local cricket pitch where we challenged a team to a game and they let us join in. I now see what all the fuss about Indian cricket pitches is about. It was basically a dust bowl and the uneven bounce soon accounted for all of our team for very few runs scored. However, we acquitted ourselves well in the field and with the opposition needing 1 run off the final delivery it was a case of caught Greenlees, bowled Finlayson that won the day! Also, for the cricket enthusiasts amongst you, "cow corner" was indeed "cow corner" due to the presence of a number of the sacred animals in the outfield. I think that at one time it was also a case of "cow silly mid on" when one ambled to assist with some close fielding.
Bouyed with enthusiasm, bon homie and the scent of victory we returned to our hotel to find a heavy police presence and a senior officer telling us not to leave the hotel and that we would have a police escort out of the state in the morning due to the risk of insurgent activity in the area!! The sheer amount...[Read More]
