{"id":461862,"date":"2026-05-22T14:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461862\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T14:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:36:12","slug":"from-maghera-to-mongolia-derry-father-and-daughter-come-second-in-bbc-race-across-the-world-show-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/461862\/","title":{"rendered":"From Maghera to Mongolia: Derry father and daughter come second in BBC Race Across the World show \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Derry<\/a> father-daughter duo who were runners up in BBC\u2019s<\/a> Race Across the World say the show has given father Andrew Clifford a \u201ccompletely different\u201d attitude in dealing with a recently diagnosed illness. <\/p>\n

Race Across the World sees pairs complete a 12,000km race across land and sea, but there is a catch; flying, smartphones and credit cards are banned.<\/p>\n

Shortly after filming the show, Andrew Clifford (55), a secondary schoolteacher from Maghera, Co Derry, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome (GBS), falling ill just one week after filming. GBS is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system mistakenly attacks the peripheral nerves, and can leave patients paralysed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back on the Monday, and on the Sunday I was in hospital, being fed by my wife and on a walking frame but I came back absolutely buzzing with life,\u201d Andrew says. He is still recovering from the autoimmune disorder, but is back at work. <\/p>\n

The race took eight weeks in total, and saw the pair begin their journey in Palermo, Italy, and finish in the remote village of Hatgal on the shores of Lake Hovsgol in northern Mongolia. They travelled across the Silk Road through Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like we went through the seasons,\u201d says Molly. \u201cWe started off in Italy, and it was like pure summer, and then when you got to Kazakhstan, you walk through Almaty and the leaves are falling, and it\u2019s like autumn, and then obviously it\u2019s winter in Mongolia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of Andrew\u2019s motivation for entering the BBC competitive reality show was a heart attack he had suffered in 2022. <\/p>\n

His daughter Molly (24), who is a recent medicine graduate from University College Cork, says that the show has given him a new lease of life. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf this [GBS] had happened to Daddy before Race [Across the World], he wouldn\u2019t have recovered as well,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew and Molly Clifford <\/p>\n

\u201cBefore Race, especially with the heart attack, he was very in his own head about his health. It kind of pushed him down and he would have put barriers up. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas with this he was literally paralysed and the man was like, \u2018No, it\u2019s okay, I\u2019ll be right\u2019, and like, \u2018I\u2019ll do this, and don\u2019t be worrying, I\u2019ll be out in summer\u2019, and he was talking about still going on holidays.\u201d <\/p>\n

As the school bell rings in the background, Andrew says he is now on a crusade to get all his students to travel around the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m preaching to people, don\u2019t put it off, just go and do it,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I could look back in my life and go back to being 21, what Race has taught me is that I would love to have given myself a kick up the backside to go travelling, to take the risks.\u201d <\/p>\n

He says that the show has made him realise that to travel \u201cyou don\u2019t need tons of money, you need a bit of bravery\u201d. <\/p>\n

Andrew says he tries to dissuade students from going on post-graduation partying holidays. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll my A-level kids, and Leaving Certificate kids, they\u2019re all going, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re going to Ibiza\u2019, and I\u2019m going, \u2018No, don\u2019t go to Ibiza, go somewhere else and do something. You don\u2019t need to go to Ibiza for a week\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew Clifford in Mongolia \"MollyMolly Clifford in Mongolia <\/p>\n

For Molly, one of the most challenging parts of the show was what to pack. \u201cThe hardest bit was trying to pack for the weather, because obviously you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re going. So you get a packing list, but because we were going from hot to cold, wet to dry-wet, you didn\u2019t know where you\u2019re going to use it,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Another challenge for the junior doctor was keeping her participation in the show a secret. \u201cIt was really hard taking a year out, and people kind of going, \u2018Is she well, is she not?\u2019 And like, they\u2019re genuinely concerned about you, and you\u2019re going \u2018No, I\u2019m actually doing the best thing ever, but I just can\u2019t talk about it\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of the challenges, the pair could not recommend the experience highly enough, either applying via the show or backpacking more broadly. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are just two normal people who are not special, I still cannot believe that we\u2019ve done it, and we did it,\u201d says Andrew. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Derry father-daughter duo who were runners up in BBC\u2019s Race Across the World say the show has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1578,7726,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-461862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bbc","tag-derry","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}