Part 1 of 2 

My taste for philanthropy combined with adventure started a couple of years ago. I discovered an organisation called The League of Adventurists (LoA). They had several schemes whereby you could risk life and death along with raising money for good causes around the globe. At the time, the only scheme they were running was the mighty Mongol Rally, which involved driving from London to Mongolia in an old 1 litre car of dubious quality. That all sounded a bit extreme at the time. But there were rumblings afoot and the LoA were looking to branch out into other adventures. I managed to bag a spot on their inaugural Rickshaw Run, which involved driving a 3-wheeled tuk-tuk, south to north across India, from Kochi to Darjeeling. Having achieved that in 9 days, raising a large wad for charity and having just about survived, my appetite was well and truly wetted for further extremity.

The mighty 2008 Mongol Rally beckoned. I applied for a spot on it in November last year but the demand for places was just too much and I missed out. 2008 would be the fifth year that the Mongol Rally would have been run and even though places on it had increased to around 300 vehicles, I was put on the reserve list. I kind of forgot all about it until I got an email back in April saying that I had a place if I wanted it. That was only 3 months before the off, so time was tight and most teams were already polishing their steeds for the launch. I also had to find a new and willing co-driver and persuade them into coming along. (My previous co-driver Tim from the Rickshaw Run, now had new paternal...[Read More]