The first Jersey Employment Trust Jaunt has been won by Lucy Gomes and Sarah Parker.
Over the weekend of 27-29 September, they raced from St Malo to Monaco, beating 16 other teams to the finish point, the Place du Casino.
The Jaunt, sponsored by CSC, is inspired by the TV programme Race Across the World, where teams of two have to find their way to a destination using public land-based transport.
They had challenges and checkpoints to tick off as they went, which were only revealed at the race briefing at the Harbour on departure day.
Lucy and Sarah (pictured), who have been friends for seven years, have travelled together in the past to places like Asia and Australia.
Lucy said: “It was so much fun. We weren’t booking the next form of transport until we arrived at each checkpoint, which meant that on one occasion we missed an earlier train due to the last two tickets selling out. It was one of the other teams! The only other tickets available for the next train were first class tickets which we treated ourselves to, after getting soaked in Paris completing the challenges.
“We also had a train delay to Dijon, which caused us to race around the city at midnight to secure each challenge before jumping on our overnight bus at 1am to Milan. Milan was an unexpected stopover, which we made the most of by having pizza for breakfast.
“Sarah is more of a relaxed traveller, and I prefer to organise our trips with a spreadsheet well in advance, therefore the time restrictions and the unknown put us both out of our comfort zones, which kept the adrenaline going through the race.
“In Paris, the checkpoints were 20 minutes away from each other, so we had to think of other forms of transport to avoid missing our next train, so we hired e-bikes and e-scooters to get through the city quicker.
“We would definitely do it again. We loved every minute, and it was all for a great cause.”
The JET Jaunt was raising money for the Jersey Employment Trust, which supports Islanders who have a disability or long-term health condition in the workplace.
The challenge has already raised nearly £13,000, with more still to come in.
JET fundraising manager Caroline Spencer said: “This has been a very exciting challenge, and all participants have had great fun. We have more prizes to give out at the awards night on 16th October, including most frugal journey and top fundraiser.
“We are very grateful to all our sponsors, CSC, Ports of Jersey, All Island Media, and ByBranca, without whom the event could not have been held.”
