The 1968 London–Sydney Marathon, officially Daily Express-Daily Telegraph London-Sydney Marathon was the first running of the London-Sydney Marathon. The rally took place between the 24 November and 17 December 1968. The event covered 10,373 miles (16,694 km) through Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia. It was won by Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Brian Coyle, driving a Hillman Hunter.
Background The original Marathon was the result of a lunch in late 1967, during a period of despondency in Britain caused by the devaluation of the British pound."How It All Began", transcript of contemporary Daily Telegraph report, marathon68.homestead.com"The great adventure of the decade" , Julian Marsh, Citroënët, 1996 Sir Max Aitken, proprietor of the Daily Express, and two of his editorial executives, Jocelyn Stevens and Tommy Sopwith, decided to create an event which their newspaper could sponsor, and which would serve to raise the country's spirits. Such an event would, it was felt, act as a showcase for British engineering and would boost export sales in the countries through which it passed.
The initial UK£10,000 winner's prize offered by the Daily Express was soon joined by a £3,000 runners-up award and two £2,000 prizes for the third-placed team and for the highest-placed Australians, all of which were underwritten by the Daily Telegraph newspaper and its proprietor Frank Packer, who was eager to promote the Antipodean leg of the rally.
The route An eight-man organising committee was established to create a suitably challenging but navigable route. Jack Sears, organising secretary and himself a former racing driver, plotted a 7,000-mile course covering eleven countries in as many days, and arranged that the P&O liner Chusan would ferry the first 72 cars and their crews on the nine-day voyage from India, before the final 2,900 miles across Australia:"Timetable of the Marathon", marathon68.homestead.com"The Route", Alan Sawyer, marathon68.homestead.com Europe and Asia Leg Date Start Finish Allowed time Description 1 24–25 November London Paris 12h 32m 2300hrs depart Crystal Palace, London; 0400hrs depart England at Port of Dover on the cross-English Channel ferry to France; 1132hrs arrive Le Bourget Airport, Paris 2 25–26 November Paris Turin 13h 32m To Italy via the Mont Blanc Tunnel; 0052hrs arrive Turin 3 26 November Turin Belgrade 21h 12m Autostrada towards Venice before crossing into Yugoslavia; 2204hrs arrive Belgrade 4 26–27 November Belgrade Istanbul 15h 31m Through Bulgaria by night into Turkey; 1335hrs arrive Istanbul 5 27–28 November Istanbul Sivas 12h 25m Crossing the Bosphorus by ferry, through Ankara and the Bolu Pass; 0300hrs arrive Sivas 6 28 November Sivas Erzincan 2h 45m Heading east across unsurfaced roads; 0445hrs Erzincan 7 28–29 November Erzincan Tehran 22h 01m Cross border into Iran; 0246hrs arrive Tehran 8 29–30 November Tehran Kabul 23h 33m Follow one of two routes to Islam Qala in Afghanistan, either the northerly route across the Alburz Mountains skirting the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, or the shorter but more treacherous route along the north edge of the Great Salt Desert;"10,000 Miles of Road Hazards", Jack Sears, marathon68.homestead.com 0219hrs arrive Kabul, where timeous crews can enjoy a 6.5 hour rest before the Khyber Pass opens. 9 30 November Kabul Sarobi 1h 00m 0842hrs depart Kabul across an obsolete, loose-surfaced road through the Lataband Pass; 0942hrs arrive Sarobi 10 30 November – 1 December Sarobi Delhi 17h 55m Cross Pakistan in a day into India; 0337hrs arrive Delhi 11 1–2 December Delhi Bombay 22h 51m Pass through Agra and Indore; 0228hrs arrive Bombay The remaining crews departed Bombay at 3 am on Thursday 5 December, arriving in Fremantle at 10 am on Friday 13 December before they restarted in Perth the following evening. Any repairs attempted on the car during the voyage would lead to the crew's exclusion."Rules that give everyone a chance to win", marathon68.homestead.com Australia Leg Date Start Finish Allowed time Description 12 14–15 December Perth Youanmi 7h 00m Depart 1800hrs from Gloucester Park, traversing smooth but unsurfaced road; 0100hrs arrive deserted mining town of Youanmi 13 15 December Youanmi Marvel Loch 4h 03m Through semi-desert via Diemal to asphalt road at Bullfinch; 0503hrs arrive Marvel Loch. 14 15 December Marvel Loch Lake King 1h 59m Into the Nullarbor Plain; 0702hrs arrive Lake King 15 15 December Lake King Ceduna 14h 52m 2154hrs arrive Ceduna 16 15–16 December Ceduna Quorn 6h 18m 0412hrs arrive Quorn 17 16 December Quorn Moralana Creek 1h 17m 0529hrs arrive Moralana Creek 18 16 December Moralana Creek Brachina 1h 30m 0659hrs arrive Brachina 19 16 December Brachina Mingary 4h 10m 1109hrs arrive Mingary 20 16 December Mingary Menindee 2h 12m 1329hrs arrive Menindee 21 16 December Menindee Gunbar 5h 18m 1839hrs arrive Gunbar 22 16 December Gunbar Edi 4h 26m 2305hrs arrive Edi 23 16–17 December Edi Brookside 1h 00m 0005hrs arrive Brookside 24 17 December Brookside Omeo 1h 55m 0200hrs arrive Omeo 25 17 December Omeo Murrindal 2h 06m 0406hrs arrive Murrindal 26 17 December Murrindal Ingebyra 1h 31m 0537hrs arrive Ingebyra 27 17 December Ingebyra Numeralla 1h 29m 0706hrs arrive Numeralla 28 17 December Numeralla Hindmarsh Station 0h 42m 0748hrs arrive Hindmarsh Station 29 17 December Hindmarsh Station Nowra 2h 01m 0949hrs arrive Nowra 30 17 December Nowra Warwick Farm Racecourse 3h 30m 1319hrs arrive Warwick Farm Racecourse 31 18 December Warwick Farm Racecourse Sydney Arrive in procession, Sydney
Rally summary
Roger Clark established an early lead through the first genuinely treacherous leg, from Sivas to Erzincan in Turkey, averaging almost 60 mph in his Lotus Cortina for the 170-mile stage. Despite losing time in Pakistan and India, he maintained his lead to the end of the Asian section in Bombay, with Simo Lampinen's Ford Taunus second and Lucien Bianchi's Citroën DS in third.
However, once into Australia, Clark suffered several setbacks. A piston failure dropped him to third, and would have cost him a finish had he not been able to cannibalise fellow Ford driver Eric Jackson's car for parts. After repairs were effected, he suffered what should have been a terminal rear differential failure. Encountering a Cortina by the roadside, he persuaded the initially reluctant owner to sell his rear axle and resumed once more, although at the cost of 80 minutes' delay while it was replaced.
This left Lucien Bianchi and co-driver Jean-Claude Ogier in the Citroën DS in the lead ahead of Gilbert Staepelaere/Simo Lampinen in the German Ford Taunus, with Andrew Cowan in the Hillman Hunter 3rd. Then Staepelaere's Taunus hit a gate post, breaking a track rod. This left Cowan in second position and Paddy Hopkirk's Austin 1800 in third place.Daily Express London-Sydney Marathon report, 1969, pp. 43–45, (David Benson, Beaverbrook Press)YouTube
Approaching the Nowra checkpoint at the end of the penultimate stage with only to Sydney, the leading Frenchmen were involved in a head-on collision with a motorist who mistakenly entered a closed course, wrecking their Citroën DS and hospitalising the pair.
Hopkirk, the first driver on the scene (ahead of Cowan on the road, but behind on penalties) stopped to tend to the injured and extinguish the flames in the burning cars. Andrew Cowan, next on the scene, also slowed but was waved through with the message that everything was under control. Hopkirk rejoined the rally, and neither he nor Cowan lost penalties in this stage. So Andrew Cowan, who had requested "a car to come last" from the Chrysler factory on the assumption that only half a dozen drivers would even reach Sydney,"Evan Green's Story", marathon68.homestead.com took victory in his Hillman Hunter and claimed the £10,000 prize. Hopkirk finished second, while Australian Ian Vaughan was third in a factory-entered Ford XT Falcon GT. Ford Australia won the Teams' Prize with their three Falcons GTs,Ford Falcon XT GT at www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au Retrieved on 24 May 2012 placing 3rd, 6th and 8th.Ford Falcon XT at www.uniquecarsandparts.com.au Retrieved on 24 May 2012
Results