Quirky rickshaw race aimed at overseas charities

Published 6:08 pm Monday, August 17, 2009

It’s billed as the Rickshaw Run 2009, a two-week charity race stretching 5,000 kilometers, or 3,107 miles, from Goa, India, to Pokhara, Nepal.

For the sake of comparison, the flight mileage between Portland, Maine, and Los Angeles, Calif., is 2,675 miles, meaning the journey that easy-going Joy Bloser, 25, is about to take outdistances a cross-country trip.

And keep in mind, that trip is to be completed in a motorized three-seat rickshaw with no doors and a single-cylinder, seven-horsepower motor.

Oh, by the way, there is no planned route for the race. In fact, maps (except those bought after the race begins) and GPS units are against the rules. Further, the sponsoring organization provides only a bare minimum of back-up.

“We’ve signed our lives away,” said Bloser, an employee of Bothell’s Framewright and Kaewyn Gallery on Main Street.

Though, she was laughing, she was also serious.

“What ever trouble we get into, is whatever trouble we get into … It’s pretty ridiculous.”

Nevertheless, along with her two teammates, as you might expect, Bloser can’t hardly wait for the Sept. 12 race date.

“I’ve wanted to do this for four years,” she said.

The Rickshaw Run is an annual event sponsored by a British organization known as the Adventurists. Bloser said the group sponsors several races, probably the best known being the Mongol Rally, a sprint from London to Mongolia in tiny rally cars. All the races support various charities.

This year’s Rickshaw Run benefits Maiti Nepal and Frank Water Projects, which, respectively, provides HIV/AIDS education and supports clean drinking water projects in India and Nepal.

Bloser said she’s wanted to take on of one the Adventurists’ races since a couple of friends tackled the Mongol Rally during Bloser’s college days. She’s obviously not alone in her enthusiasm. There are 60 international teams in this year’s Rickshaw Run and those teams took 14 seconds to claim every rickshaw available.

Bloser will make the trip with teammates and friends Nick Campbell and Matt Acosta, both of Gig Harbor. They have dubbed their squad, somehow appropriately for a race through India, The Karma Payment Plan, a line borrowed from a Modest Mouse song.

Campbell spent a few months last summer working for a nonprofit in India, something Bloser sees as an obvious point in her team’s favor. It was Campbell who stayed up until 4 a.m. and somehow managed to get the team registered for the Rickshaw Run.

“I was really lucky,” he said. “I didn’t know it would go that fast.”

“Most people just think we’re crazy,” Campbell added.

Since there is no planned route, the team does not know where they will be sleeping during the race. Bloser said their equipment will include a tent, though they also hope to stay at hostels or inexpensive inns. Before leaving, each team member must earn an international motorcycle driver’s license in order to legally drive the rickshaw. Campbell said it’s the driving that might scare him the most. India’s roads have no marked lanes and drivers can pass anyone at any time.

While the race is slated to last two weeks, the British group gives participants three weeks to finish. Bloser expressed a hope to finish first, but will be satisfied with just finishing. What does the winner receive?

“Pomp and glory,” Bloser said. “And there is a tea party thrown in your honor.”

And, no, she wasn’t joking.

Each Rickshaw team is required to raise $1,000 benefitting charities. Bloser said one great thing about the Rickshaw Run is every dime raised goes to the causes — teams put up entrance fees to cover any administrative costs. They also must provide their own means of reaching India, which for each member of the Karma group means about a $1,400, two-day plane trip.

Bloser said the Karma Payment Plan has reached its fund-raising goal for one charity and is about halfway to hitting the right number for the other. They may plan a fund-raising event for later this month at a local movie theater.

For now, those looking to help can go to http://rickshawrun09a.theadventurists.com/thekarmapaymentplan.