Team MTA is in AM New York! (sorta)

A big thanks to another New York team entering the rally - Windmill Giants. There was an article about them and the Rally in today's AM New York and they gave us a nod. We were lucky enough to meet them at a gathering of the New York teams a few weeks ago. Here is the article...

NYers set to drive 10,000 miles (to Mongolia)
By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
jsilverman@am-ny.com
June 29, 2007

The stereotypical American needs a four-wheel drive SUV to make it from a house in the suburbs to the local shopping mall.
For two New Yorkers planning a 10,000-mile drive from England to Mongolia this summer, a tiny 1.3 liter Eastern European car called a Škoda Felicia will do the job.
It will have to, as the rules of the Mongol Rally, an annual charity ride expected to draw 200 teams this year, prohibit any larger or more powerful car.
"You'd be surprised how many people would like to get into a … little car and drive 10,000 miles to Mongolia," says David Toal, one half of team Windmill Giants. "At least 1,000 miles of that is over unpaved roads. We have to raise the car, and I'm planning to get the best shock absorbers money can buy."
Along with wife Illiana Ivanova, Toal will depart for London on July 19. He has three weeks off his job in hotel management to finish the trip.
The goal, in addition to breaking free of the sanitized, routine existence of daily life, is to raise money for charity, including Mercy Corps, which help rural communities in Mongolia.
To this end, the Windmill Giants are seeking sponsorship from local businesses to share in some unconventional publicity.
"We have to raise at least $2,000. But being the overachieving New Yorkers that we are, we are trying to blow that figure out of the water," says Toal.
A few other New York-based teams, including the MTA, Mongolian Transportation Authority, are also competing.
Last year's local entry to the Mongol Rally, team New Yorkistan, never made it to the finish line. They were waylaid by "intestinal problems" and had to return home early.
But the money for charity had already been raised, and there was no arguing with rally organizers, who clearly explain on their Web site (mongolrally.com) that, "You are entirely responsible for yourself. When you sign up you will have to sign our disclaimers and terms of entry so you can't sue us when you die."

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.