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Trio sign up for 3,000km jungle race

Oct 18 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A BRAVE trio has signed up for a race across 3,000km of Indian jungle and desert in a three-wheeled rickshaw – even though none of them have ever even ridden one.

Three-wheeled rickshaw

The three excited pals – Paul Seager, of Gosforth, Newcastle, Gavin McKew, 26, of Whitehaven, Cumbria, and Justin McMahon, 28, of Leicester – will endure searing hot temperatures and dangerous wildlife when they take part in next year’s Rickshaw Run.

They won’t be given a map to guide them as they drive across the questionable terrain in a glorified golf-cart with a top speed of 35mph.

And they won’t even learn how to drive the contraption until the day before the start date in Cochin on March 28, a fact which has left family and friends more than a little worried.

The three friends - who were given a taste of what they have let themselves in for when they tried out a tuk tuk owned by the Barn Asia restaurant in Newcastle - are hopeful they can raise thousands of pounds for charity on their journey.

Paul, 26, a fire safety adviser at North Tyneside Hospital, said: “We’ve bought a road map and a guide to India and that’s it.

“You don’t get a guide to help you, you just set off and they say ‘see you in two weeks’. I’ve never used a rickshaw, let alone driven one. My mum’s going mad.

“She’s a bit of a worrier and wonders what we’ve got ourselves into.”

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