No, they haven't been pulled over for speeding. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
Two intrepid Northlanders are just a few hundred kilometres from the finish line in a tuktuk race the length of India.
Houhora police officer Tracee Knowler and Advocate reporter Kristin Edge, calling themselves the Chickshaw Blues, are taking part in a 3500-kilometre charity rally from Shillong in north India to
Cochin in the south. The catch is that they are driving a tuktuk, a three-wheeled motorised rickshaw described as a glorified lawnmower.
Money they raise will go to the Miriam Centre in Whangarei to provide counselling for sexual abuse victims in the Far North.
They have battled crazy traffic, giant potholes, almost daily breakdowns and (in Ms Knowler's case) a bout of Delhi belly. They have also been amazed, at times reduced to tears, by the kindness and generosity of strangers in a poor land.
The pair are determined to reach the finish line in time for the post-race party on August 21 so have twice loaded their tuktuk on to a truck in a bid to get ahead. Even then it can take 12 hours to travel 500km.
