Lilongwe Cricket Club Alendo Rally 2013

Talk about fun!  One Saturday morning in May, two friends and I boarded a decked out land-rover decorated for the occasion and took part in the Lilongwe Cricket Club Alendo Car Rally. The goal of the day was to navigate without getting sidetracked or last on dirt roads for over 70 kms around Lilongwe.  Our team were named "The Victorious Secret", we were all glamed-up, car included!

Rally was not just driving around...  that would have been just too easy.  We also had a list of clues that led to specific points to photograph.  During the whole day we deciphered the clues written as poems as we were driving around.  Among the many clues, one had to do with the presidential palace, another one with Madonna's school that didn't pan out, one about a specific hair salon/barber shop and one with the power supply towers...  Those were a lot of fun and we were truly admiring the cricket guys who actually wrote all those clues in poem forms.

Along the way we had three stops: target shooting, tire chance and a bicycle challenge.  Of course, those had been kept secret till you actually arrived on the spot of the challenge.
Target shooting was done by using sling shots, small rocks and aiming at various size containers.  One of our team did well with this.
The tire change was also just that: changing a tire under a certain amount of time.  To our credit, the team did well, considering that none of us had really changed a tire completely without help.  We were dressed in black slacks, white tops, healed shoes and were all wearing pearls. AND we did change the tire, unlike many other teams who elected to "pay a bribe" to get points for work they didn't do.

The third, and last, challenge was the most physically demanding... One of us, me in this instance, had to ride a bike around a football/soccer field, with a child from the village sitting on the bike as well.  It was a little tricky as the turns were pretty sharp, but again, we finished the challenge, not first but not last either!

When we arrived back at the Cricket Club, the atmosphere was electric:  every team had to show their solved riddles photographs, then all had to wait for the prize giving ceremony...  The wait ended up totally being worth it:  The Victorious Secret won a dinner for 4 at one of the best restaurants/steakhouses for best named team. We hollered and hooted for the winners of various categories...  and even for the grand prize winner, a two guys team who won 200,000 MK (570 USD) at the big box store Game (the South African Wal-Mart)

Overall a great day!  Can't wait for next year ;-)