112:) along with the a team from the 2/4 Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, competitors from the United States, Australia's leading camel handlers, adventurers, and ex-marathon runners entered the event. The army organised the legs alongside competing themselves. In addition, they were the best equipped for the event with hundreds of support personnel and vehicles. The competition was timed according to how long it took each participant to finish a leg, much like a vehicle rally.
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was one of the starters but soon had to drop out. Often due to issues with the camels, 19 of the teams did not make it to the second stage. For the next three months, competitors battled disease, floods, and also dangerous traffic conditions (as the last 2,000 km were along highways). The clear early
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After the event O'Connell went to retire his camel, Carla, when a dispute broke out over ownership. Because she had won and had become well known, the original person O'Connell was involved with before the race, made claim to her and half the winnings and wanted to use her name to start his camel
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A total of 24 competitors completed the event with the winner, Gordon, finishing in 480 hours, the second-place SASR finishing 34 hours after that, and third-place Steve French 28 hours after that. Calculating these times into an average equates to O'Connell covering 168 km every day. In
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was a camel endurance event held in mid-1988. It is described as the longest animal endurance race ever held. The event was the inspiration of the
Australian property millionaire Arthur Earle, who wanted to organise an endurance race to celebrate the harsh outback. The race was to inject more
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addition to this, the final distance he won by had been reached by the second leg of the race. He won the first four of the six legs, even when he was hospitalised with kidney failure from
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business. After close to six years of litigation, O'Connell was granted the winnings and awarded damages and ownership of the camel (until her death in 2014).
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dysentery (which struck 80% of the other competitors too) on the second leg. The race was put on hold until they were well enough to continue.
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had on the exploration of central
Australia, and highlight the importance these animals had in the development of these arid lands.
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leaders were the SASR and Gordon O'Connell (who had trained with his camel for 10 months prior to the event).
163:. On the 35th anniversary of the race, the ABC released a podcast with interviews of surviving participants.
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The planned route was 3,236 km (2,011 mi) long spanning from the centre of
Australia, starting at
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The race was broken down into six legs each with check points:(source: Australasian geographical magazine
276:"'A recipe for disaster': The camel race that offered adventure — then took a serious turn for the worse"
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159:(Volume 11 number 3 page 97). It also featured in a 106 minute video, released in 1988, titled
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439:"The Great camel race [videorecording] : the longest animal endurance race ever"
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303:"A carpet layer beat the entire SAS in the Great Australian Camel Race"
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The event began on 23 April 1988 with 69 competitors. Adventurer
221:"The Great Camel Race | Bill Leimbach | 1988 | ACMI collection"
34:. The race also intended to recognise the positive impact that
251:"BIG READ: CQ man relives epic outback endurance test victory"
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The Great camel race: the longest animal endurance race ever
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Leg 6: Warwick to Gold Coast (Queensland app. 140 km)
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The event featured in the documentary produced for the
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Sheratons Great
Australian Camel Race Final Results
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50:, to the east coast of Australia ending on the
80:(Northern Territory to Queensland 761 km)
500:Recurring sporting events established in 1988
417:The Great Australian Camel Race 1988 Part 2
394:The Great Australian Camel Race 1988 Part 1
367:"The Great Australian Camel Race (part 2)"
195:"The Great Australian Camel Race (part 1)"
468:Orana Films | Just another WordPress site
525:Australian bicentennial commemorations
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464:"The Great Camel Race | Orana Films"
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23:Great Australian Camel Race
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108:Australia's elite SASR (
76:Leg 2: Alice Springs to
28:Australia's Bicentennial
97:Leg 5: Charleville to
69:Leg 1: Ayers Rock to
90:Leg 4: Longreach to
65:Volume 11 number 3)
535:Sport in Queensland
470:. 27 September 2010
332:www.paddymchugh.com
173:Camels in Australia
99:Warwick, Queensland
307:We Are The Mighty
257:. 7 January 2018.
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151:Orana Films
92:Charleville
489:Categories
371:ABC listen
199:ABC listen
179:References
52:Gold Coast
48:Ayers Rock
16:1988 event
85:Longreach
42:The event
280:ABC News
167:See also
131:shigella
474:7 April
448:7 April
423:7 April
400:7 April
377:7 April
337:7 April
312:7 April
286:7 April
230:7 April
205:7 April
116:Results
510:Camels
78:Boulia
141:Media
476:2024
450:2024
425:2024
402:2024
379:2024
339:2024
314:2024
288:2024
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54:and
21:The
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149:by
147:ABC
63:Geo
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