First place for three Kiwis and a rickshaw

Glen and Darryl Crofskey and Wal Gray spent more than 11 days in their auto-rickshaw. Photo / Supplied

Sitting in a rickshaw is usually a relaxing exercise, but three Kiwis who travelled through India in one for almost two weeks were left with very sore bottoms.

Wal Gray, Glen Crofskey and his brother Darryl Crofskey, of Auckland, spent more than 11 days in an auto-rickshaw as part of The Rickshaw Run.

Held each year, the event attracts up to 70 teams from all over the world, helping to raise funds for various charities within the country.

The team from New Zealand, named Rickshaw RuNZ, was Kiwi through and through - their vehicle was coloured black and sported several silver ferns and All Blacks flags.

RuNZ finished the race this week in first place, coming in at 11 days and five hours.

Describing what it was like to travel over thousands of kilometres of rough terrain and desert, Darryl Crofskey said: "Let's just say that at the end of it, we had massively sore arses.

"Driving through potholes and hunks of rocks on the road, not too nice, but definitely worth it."

Glen Crofskey also suffered a tummy bug early on in the trip, which almost saw the team pull out.

"That was tough. He had to take dehydrating salts and it was pretty rough for him," Darryl Crofskey said.

"[But] we had to drive on, so we just put him in the back and kept on."

The most memorable sights throughout the trip were riding through the Himalaya mountains and seeing hundreds of monkeys swarm towards them whenever food was chucked out of the rickshaw, Darryl Crofskey said.

After days of not knowing where they were placed, it was an "awesome" surprise to get to the finish line and see they had come in first.

"We didn't realise we had won until we came in and looked at the board where they put up all the results.

"There were no names on the board - and we thought: 'Sweet'."

The charity the Kiwis have chosen to give to is Maiti Nepal, a group which rescues young girls taken into the sex trade and rehabilitates them.

Anyone who wishes to donate to the cause can go to www.justgiving.com/runz