College of the Rockies’ Adventure Tourism Business Operations (ATBO) program at our Golden campus has a lot of adventurous students. It is to be expected in a program with ‘adventure’ right in its name. Chadwick Dunsford is no exception to that rule. Hailing from Charlottetown, PEI, he enrolled in the ATBO program because, as he says, “I was looking for an ultimate experience where I could live, play and work in the mountains. The program and the location in Golden made the choice seem pretty obvious.”
Chadwick graduated from the diploma program in 2014 but has not stopped searching for excitement. An avid traveller, in January 2015 he embarked on the adventure of a lifetime – participating in the Rickshaw Run. What is the Rickshaw Run, you ask? Well it is a 3,500 km pan-Indian race that has been described as “the least sensible thing to do with two weeks.”
The rickshaw itself is a three-wheeled motorized version of a traditional pulled or cycle rickshaw. It is not very fast, it tends to tip over when going around corners and it frequently breaks down. Yet, somehow people think spending a couple of weeks racing them through India is great fun. (Well, the party atmosphere that accompanies the race might have something to do with that)
Participants are not provided with maps during the course of the event, so many of the back country and navigating skills Chadwick picked up in the ATBO program came in very handy. As they made their way through India in the rickshaw they had lovingly dubbed Lucy, they were immersed in Indian culture and overwhelmed by the generosity and curiosity of the locals they encountered.
Sounds like Chadwick and his teammates had an amazing time in India – adventure tourism at its best. You can read more about Chadwick’s Rickshaw Run (and watch a video about his time in the ATBO program) at radchad.ca