The Great Australian Camel Race

The planned route was long spanning from the centre of Australia, starting at Ayers Rock, to the east coast of Australia ending on the Gold Coast and World Expo 88. 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. The Australian Army's 1st Signal Regiment based at Enoggera Barracks, supported the race by providing a vital safety link and strategically positioned radio communication vehicles along the entire length of each days racing. == Results ==

The event began on 23 April 1988 with 69 competitors. Adventurer Alby Mangels was one of the starters but soon had to drop out. 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 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 shigella 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. 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 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). ==Media==

The event featured in the documentary produced for the ABC by Orana Films and photographed in the Australasian geographical magazine Geo (Volume 11 number 3 page 97). It also featured in a 106 minute video, released in 1988, titled The Great camel race: the longest animal endurance race ever. On the 35th anniversary of the race, the ABC released a podcast with interviews of surviving participants. ==See also==