Crazy Races

Recently, my friends and I were discussing the idea of taking part in one of The Adventurist’s crazy charity races, The Rickshaw Run. This is a two week, 3,500 km thrill ride in a motorized rickshaw that you and your teammates drive across India. Crazy? Yes! Fun? Sounds like it! Dangerous? Yes!  Will we do it? Here’s hoping! When? As part of my RTW trip perhaps! We have the idea in our heads and just need to sit down to discuss it further.

The talk of potentially participating in this crazy, wacky race for charity got me thinking. How many fun/crazy/wacky races are there anyway? Quite a number, according to my Google searches. Some are running races, some on bicycles, some motorized and others I can not quite categorize (like bog snorkeling). So below are a few of the races that I found. Who knows, maybe I will even partake in some of them…

• World Wife Carrying Run – I do not know if this one is for charity but it certainly looks fun. Head to Finland and carry your wife while running a 253.5m(277.2 yards) course.
• Tough Mudder/Warrior Dash – These unrelated yet similar obstacle courses are quite tough. Scaling walls, running in mud, jumping over fire – it takes determination, strength and a sense of having fun and both of them are for charities.
• The Underwear Affair – Organized by both the Alberta and BC Cancer Foundations, this annual race aims to raise monies and awareness for below the waist cancers such as colo-rectal, ovarian and prostate. Participants are encouraged to run or walk (5 or 10km) in their underwear or a zany outfit. This takes place in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, Canada
• The Adventurists – Anything by The Adventurists seems crazy and fun. They have SIX races, all to raise money for charities:
  The Rickshaw Run
  The Mongol Rally
  The Mototaxi Junket
  The Ice Run
  The Mongol Derby and
   The World Cycle Race
• Color Me Rad and The Color Run both run/walk races in USA and Canada where participants start out in white and end up a covered in amazing powdered hues at the end. A portion of the proceeds go to local charities.
• Global Adventure Challenges – this UK organization has been organizing charities challenges worldwide since 2000 as well as delivering fun and adventure.
• Marathon du Democ in the Bordeaux region of France is a costumed marathon (42km/26.2 miles) that has drinking stations that serve wine!! My kind of marathon, if I ran marathons.
• World Naked Bike Ride – Not so much a race but a a worldwide gathering of (nude) cyclists. They stripped themselves bare to bring attention to the issues of the dangers faced by cyclists (and pedestrians) on busy streets. Additionally they advocate a lessening on the world’s dependence on oil and non-renewable fuels sources.

Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons