A Derry father-daughter duo who were runners up in BBC’s Race Across the World say the show has given father Andrew Clifford a “completely different” attitude in dealing with a recently diagnosed illness. 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.Shortly after filming the show, Andrew Clifford (55), a secondary schoolteacher from Maghera, Co Derry, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré 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.“I 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,” Andrew says. He is still recovering from the autoimmune disorder, but is back at work. 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. “It felt like we went through the seasons,” says Molly. “We 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’s like autumn, and then obviously it’s winter in Mongolia.”Part of Andrew’s motivation for entering the BBC competitive reality show was a heart attack he had suffered in 2022. 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. “If this [GBS] had happened to Daddy before Race [Across the World], he wouldn’t have recovered as well,” she says. Andrew and Molly Clifford “Before 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. “Whereas with this he was literally paralysed and the man was like, ‘No, it’s okay, I’ll be right’, and like, ‘I’ll do this, and don’t be worrying, I’ll be out in summer’, and he was talking about still going on holidays.” 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. “I’m preaching to people, don’t put it off, just go and do it,” he says. “If 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.” He says that the show has made him realise that to travel “you don’t need tons of money, you need a bit of bravery”. Andrew says he tries to dissuade students from going on post-graduation partying holidays. “All my A-level kids, and Leaving Certificate kids, they’re all going, ‘Oh, we’re going to Ibiza’, and I’m going, ‘No, don’t go to Ibiza, go somewhere else and do something. You don’t need to go to Ibiza for a week’.”Andrew Clifford in Mongolia Molly Clifford in Mongolia For Molly, one of the most challenging parts of the show was what to pack. “The hardest bit was trying to pack for the weather, because obviously you don’t know where you’re going. So you get a packing list, but because we were going from hot to cold, wet to dry-wet, you didn’t know where you’re going to use it,” she says. Another challenge for the junior doctor was keeping her participation in the show a secret. “It was really hard taking a year out, and people kind of going, ‘Is she well, is she not?’ And like, they’re genuinely concerned about you, and you’re going ‘No, I’m actually doing the best thing ever, but I just can’t talk about it’.”In spite of the challenges, the pair could not recommend the experience highly enough, either applying via the show or backpacking more broadly. “We are just two normal people who are not special, I still cannot believe that we’ve done it, and we did it,” says Andrew.