Race Across The World 2019 winners revealed

Fighting off tough competition from the other four teams, they were the first to arrive at the final checkpoint at the observation deck of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore. There an emotional Tony and Elaine were visibly shocked and hugged each other.

Popping a bottle of champagne to celebrate their £20,000 win, an incredulous Elaine said: “We’re the oldest team in the competition by far, and the pensioners. We are OAPs and we’ve beaten all of these youngsters! How that has happened?”

Joining this race of a lifetime in Germany after one team had to pull out due to a family emergency, Tony and Elaine embarked on the epic adrenaline-fuelled adventure, leaving behind their smart phones, internet access and credit cards, armed with only the cash equivalent of a one-way airfare to Singapore to pay for the entire journey.

Throughout the competition, Tony and Elaine pushed themselves to their limits using skill, ingenuity and sheer determination to get ahead of the other teams. Reaching the first checkpoint in Delphi in last place, and with the added threat of elimination for whoever reached the second checkpoint in Baku in last place, gave them the extra push they needed to travel cleverly and quickly. This paid off and reaching Baku in first place, gave them the head start to checkpoint three, Tashkent. Their lead didn’t last long, however, as all four teams found themselves caught on the same boat for four days, crossing the Caspian Sea during a storm, with limited food and water.

As their journey progressed, earning and saving money became a priority and Tony and Elaine had to seek work, including grooming camels in Uzbekistan and lending a hand with the harvest in Krati in Cambodia. But overspending meant that across the three-thousand miles through China, they had to endure cheap, hard seats on slow trains, which came at their detriment when they arrived at the fourth checkpoint, Huangyao in last place - 38 hours behind race leaders, Darron and Alex. A mix of lucky transfers, throwing money at the situation and strong will meant that they soon leapfrogged the others and arrived at the penultimate checkpoint, Koh Rong at the same time as Darron and Alex, whose pace had been burdened by dwindling finances.

In the final leg of the race, Tony and Elaine, and Darron and Alex, had a 17-hour lead over their fellow teams, Josh and Felix and Natalie and Shameema as they left Koh Rong. With the healthiest budget of the remaining teams, Tony and Elaine opted to take the direct route in a taxi along the coast to the Thai border of Trat. On an overnight bus to the coastal town of Krabi in Thailand, Tony and Elaine’s journey almost came to a standstill as Tony aggravated an old back injury, leaving him struggling to walk. Elaine hoped a day of rest by the pool and in the sun would work wonders. Keen not to stiffen up later that evening, Tony decided to self-medicate, and enjoyed a raucous night in their hostel drinking shots and dancing until the early hours. This unexpected break put Darron and Alex back in the race and they crossed paths at the bus station in Krabi, where Tony and Elaine remained tactical, not wanting to give away their plans, much to Alex’s upset and annoyance.

Reaching Hat Yai in Thailand, Tony and Elaine hoped for a direct connection to the finish line. With only limited buses each day, tickets sell out fast, but they managed to get the only remaining tickets on the last direct bus to Singapore. However, in the middle of their overnight journey, bad luck struck when the bus they were on broke down. Changing coaches left them worried that whatever lead they had was now lost.

In a nail-biting final, Darron and Alex and Tony and Elaine received details of their final checkpoint on their GPS tracker, telling them it was a foot race to the finish line – the observation deck of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Reaching the check-in desk, Tony and Elaine learnt that the entrance to the observation desk cost 23 Singapore dollars each. Worrying that Darron and Alex had already made it, their fears were unfounded as they opened the check-in book to find they were the first to arrive, and take the crown.

Reflecting on their victory Tony said: “Someone’s got to cross the line first in a race like this. But I think it’s a win-win situation for everybody. The race we’ve been on really has changed our lives. It was 50 days of racing through some really, really tough times; being blown away by the kindness and generosity of complete strangers and at the same time soaking up some of the world’s most beautiful scenery and locations. The winning was awesome but the ‘journey’ will be what we remember.”

On their reasons for entering the competition, Elaine said: “All three of our children did gap years and gap ski seasons and we were just so jealous. We went straight from school to teacher training, and then were teachers for life and we just didn’t have that opportunity. We were jealous of them!”

Looking back on their time in the competition, Tony said: “It’s no doubt given us the taste for ‘going off the beaten track’ and venturing to destinations we probably wouldn’t have previously considered. There are so many beautiful, different places in the world but its more often than not the interaction with people that you remember.”

Tony and Elaine live in North Yorkshire. They have three children and five grandchildren.

VHW