ROMANIANS AT MONGOL RALLY - The largest charitable rally to cross Sibiu City on July 24

The Mongol Rally, the world's largest charitable rally, is this year crossing Romania, through Sibiu and Vama Veche, where the participants will be treated to two parties on July 24 and July 25, organisers report in a press release sent to Agerpres.

The first checkpoint in Romania will be Sibiu City on Thursday, when the teams meet locals at a party to be hosted by the Ursus Cotton Pub. Hosting the event will be Razvan Stuparu and Vlad Grigore, that is Mongolification, the team that represented Romania in last year's edition. Rules for the Mongol Rally are few and very simple: competitors have to drive standard city cars. The maximum capacity is 1,000 de cubic centimetres.

Photo credit: (c) Today You Can Do Anything

The team draw up their own routes and are fully responsible for getting the tourist visas required by the countries en route and each team donates 1,000 euros for charity purposes. More than 5 million British pounds have been collected so far this way. The main charitable cause is saving the rain forests, called Cool Earth. Moreover, each team may raise funds for their pet charity cases.

The Mongol Rally starts in London, on July 20, or in Prague, on July 22 and there are three mandatory checkpoints to Ulan Bator: London or Prague as the mandatory start points; Sibiu, Romania (July 24, a checkpoint set up for the second consecutive year), Vama Veche, Romania (July 25, a checkpoint set up for the fourth consecutive year by Paramongols), Baku, Azerbaijan (July 29, a checkpoint set up for the first time) and Ulan Bator, where the finish line is.

This year, two teams will be leaving Romania, the Dracula Khan and Mamaliga (Polenta) Warriors. As for the pet local causes, Dracula Khan supports the...