The Great Australian Camel Race

The Great Australian Camel Race was an Australian event held in 1988. It featured in the four-hour documentary produced by Orana Films and photographed in the Australasian geographical magazine Geo Volume 11 number 3 page 97. It is said to have been the longest animal endurance race ever held.

This event was the work of the Australian millionaire Arthur Earle, who wanted to recognize the positive impact that camels had on the development of Australia, and highlight the importance these animals had in the exploration and transport needs in the central Australian deserts. The race was to also inject more celebration into Australia's Bicentennial year whilst raising funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The event was 3,236 km long (2,025 miles) spanning from the centre of Australia, starting at Ayers Rock, to the East Coast of Australia ending on the Gold Coast. The race was broken down into six legs each with check points in between. The event was run like a car rally, where each competitor was timed on how long it took to complete a leg. Each leg as detailed in the Australasian geographical magazine Geo Volume 11 number 3 as below.

• Leg 1: Ayers Rock to Alice Spring (Northern Territory 410 km)
• Leg 2: Alice Springs to Boulia (Northern Territory to Queensland 761 km)
• Leg 3: Boulia to Longreach (Queensland app. 604 km)
• Leg 4: Longreach to Charleville (Queensland app. 530 km)
• Leg 5: Charleville to Warwick, Queensland (Queensland app. 1242 km)
• Leg 6: Warwick to Gold Coast (Queensland app. 140 km)

For three months competitors battled disease, floods and competitor rivalry, as the mix of people in the event varied greatly. Australia's elite SASR (Special Air Service Regiment which came second overall) along with the armies regular troops, competitors from the United States, Australia's leading camel handlers and ex-marathon runners entered the event totaling 69 competitors.

A total of 28 competitors completed the event with details of finishing times for first second and third place as below.

1. Gordon O'Connell 480 Hrs
2. SASR 514 Hrs
3. Steve French 542 Hrs

Calculating these times into a 24 hour period, then gaining an average of distance traveled daily equates to Gordon O'Connell taking 20 days in total time to complete, covering 168 km every 24 hours as the average. (This includes meals, sleeping and animal feeding)

Gordon O'Connell won The Great Australian Camel race by approximately 34 hours ahead of his nearest competitor. In addition to this the distance he won by had been reached by the second leg of the race. Gordon won the first four of the six legs, even when he was hospitalized with kidney failure from Shiguella on the second leg going into Boulia.

The army was the team organizing the legs and were there for the safety of all competitors along with competing themselves. In addition to this they were the best equipped for the event with hundreds of support personnel and vehicles. The clear leaders throughout the race were the SASR and Gordon O'Connell. The army with multiple animals would try and place pressure on him with a fresh animal every day. In addition to this they would support each other by having multiple runners run with their competitors to keep them motivated.

In the four hour documentary the comparison to the armies support machine and Gordon O'Connell's one man backup (Lenny McKay an 80 year old) was cleverly highlighted. The armies theme song was being built up with hundreds of trumpets as the armies trucks and men are being filmed, then the same tune breaks into a weak whistle as Gordon's figure cuts through the haze of the desert alone and out in front, with the curator stating "Then came along a skinny man, Ram Rod Straight and as Tough as iron bark. With a camel he'd trained for a bit more than just walking, with an old mate called Lenny to back him up".

Lenny McKay was brought along as backup when the original teams had been broken down over a bad partnership months before during training. Lenny was the backup for Gordon until Longreach where John Nichols took over from Lenny, when the competitor he was originally supporting pulled out from the event. John also turned out to be from Gordon's home town in central Queensland.