Race across Europe ends with dramatic finale in Istanbul

In the end, the Trans-European Race from London to Istanbul, using only public transport, came down to a clash of two travel titans – and an unbelievably close sprint finish in which Turkish police briefly intervened.

A reminder of the inaugural trains, boats and buses contest, which was organised by Lupine Travel of Wigan. At 10am on Saturday 5 August, almost 100 participants – who had paid £99 each for the privilege – set off from Trafalgar Square in central London.

The racetrack was something of an obstacle course. They had to make their way via a series of checkpoints to Turkey’s largest city. The direct distance is 1,560 miles, but overland routes are much further – especially given the waypoints they had to visit along the journey.

All the participants knew the first checkpoint would be in Paris, and many of them had bought Eurostar tickets for a high-speed start to the marathon. But the remaining locations were revealed only minutes before the race began.

For the second checkpoint, contestants could choose between Venice, Munich and Prague: Munich is on the the most direct track, which is one reason why the Orient Express international train from Paris to Istanbul was routed that way.

The next two stops were mandatory: the Serbian capital, Belgrade, and the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. Which is where we pick up the two leading contenders, 48 hours into their journeys.

Bram Houtenbos is a 38-year-old financial services executive from south London, who self-identifies as a travel nerd. His opponent: Eleanor Parker, 32, who works in the humanitarian sector on safeguarding for NGOs.

After two sleepless nights and days, both converged at Plovdiv bus station to board the same 2pm Metro coach to Istanbul.

Bram’s journey so far had been based on an Interrail pass. It involved fast trains as far as Budapest, including one welcome sleeper segment from Salzburg to the Hungarian capital.

Eleanor chose a budget approach. Her one luxury was an on-the-spot express train ticket from Paris to Geneva on Saturday afternoon. After that, it was back-to-back buses via Venice, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Nis and Sofia.

In a 21st-century version of the tortoise and hare, the road warrior caught up with the rail supremo after Bram found himself having to cool his high-speed heels in Budapest for eight hours with no alternative transport to Belgrade.

The…