SMH

Saturday, September 27, 1997

Young film makers in a race to the finish line

By RICHARD JINMAN, Entertainment Writer

How hard was the Race Around the World? "Bloody hard!" said Claudia Rowe yesterday as the ABC's eight intrepid racers were reunited in Sydney to learn which one of them had won.

"You'd often feel like crying, but laugh instead," said Rowe. "There were times I just wished my bed would swallow me up." The final episode of Race Around the World was taped in Sydney last night for screening on October 27, but ABC officials remained tight-lipped about the overall winner, though a spokeswoman confirmed that Kim Traill and Olivia Rousset were neck-and-neck in front, with Daniel Marsden in hot pursuit.

Earlier the road stories flowed as the eight racers recalled their travels and expressed hopes for the future. Rowe wants to work for the United Nations media division, but has been waitressing in the meantime. John Safran has returned to a Melbourne advertising agency and Ben Davies wants to join the circus as a rodeo rider.

Showing entrepreneurial flair, Scott Herford is setting up a Race Around the World survival workshop in Sydney - "the response has been very positive" - and Daniel Marsden has moved from Brisbane to Sydney to pursue a film career. Safran came clean yesterday about the film which was pulled by ABC chiefs because of the use of hidden cameras.

"I went around confession booths in Rio de Janeiro and confessed to the same sin at each one," he said. "I gave the churches scores calculated by the number of Hail Marys multiplied by the number of Our Fathers given." While most racers agreed the unrelenting need of finding and shooting four-minute stories was a punishing task, the overall experience was rewarding.

For its part, the ABC says the Race "rated well" in its 9.30pm timeslot and is committed to a second series. Racers for the new show are already being sought.

Traill, an experienced traveller, said she found the style of storytelling a problem. "I wanted to tell other people's stories, but they wanted us to put ourselves in the stories, which I found difficult," she said. And Marsden, who was docked points for submitting films late, admitted he occasionally focused on the quality of his films at the expense of deadlines.