After racing 12,000 miles across 21 countries, over land and sea – but, crucially without flying – a couple have been crowned the first champions of BBC2’s Race Across the World.

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Retired PE teachers Tony and Elaine Teasdale, both aged 62, were the first to reach the finish line in Singapore having traversed two continents in 50 days.

Celebrating their £20,000 win, 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?”

Leaving behind their smart phones, internet access and credit cards, and travelling only with the cash equivalent of a one-way airfare to Singapore to last them the entire journey, the pair beat four other teams to the finish line.

During their trip, the couple embarked on a four-day boat-ride across the Caspian Sea during a storm, with limited food and water, and earned money grooming camels in Uzbekistan and helping out with the harvest in Krati in Cambodia.

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Like the sound of that? Find out how to enter the next series of Race Across the World here.

Authors

Ellie HarrisonWriter, RadioTimes.com
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