Good Sports: Jared Walsh and Duncan Forbes

Two Northlanders are nearing the end of what is an odd activity to take part in while on an overseas experience. Maunu's Jared Walsh and Portland's Duncan Forbes are 'The Taniwha Funnel Club', and are taking part in the 2013 Mongol Rally - driving from London to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Duncan and Jared had time to catch up with the Northern Advocate during their journey.

It's a bit of a mission you've set yourselves here, what possessed you guys to take up this challenge?

Adventure and a bit of a laugh I suppose. It seemed like the ultimate road trip, and to see places we would never get the chance to see.

How did you hear about the race?

Duncan, aka Muscles, heard about it from a workmate. The workmate is a bit crazy so we checked it out online and showed Jared, who said 'let's do it' straight away.

With an event like this, is there much of a following? And, I'm sure the people doing the rally with you will have some interesting stories? I see it's a bit of charity involved, can you explain how this works?

There are 190 teams and they are from all parts of the world and of all ages. Some are doing it on motorbikes and scooters but each team is raising money for there own charity. Some teams have raised over 10,000 so far. Part of entering the rally is raising at least 1000 for charity, this can be given all to the The Adventurists' (the organisers) nominated charity or half there and half to one of your choosing. We have chosen to give half to The Child Cancer Foundation and half to Cool Earth. Both are worthy causes, Cool Earth is dedicated to saving rainforests in danger of being cleared - important for obvious reasons (climate change, wildlife preservation etc).

I have been following your progress on your 'The Taniwha Funnel Club' Facebook page and saw that the radio broke on day one and then the whole car decided to stop in Russia. How'd you get on with fixing it?

The first mechanic insisted on drinking two bottles of vodka with us, but didn't end up fixing the car. Luckily though another team towed us to another mechanic.

How can people support you?

You can do so by visiting: http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/TaniwhaFC/. All donations will go directly to The Child Cancer Foundation on our behalf and you will receive a receipt which you can claim back a portion of when it's tax time.