Race Across The World has come to a dramatic end as one pair have cinched victory with just 19 minutes to spare as the teams raced across China, Nepal and India

Caroline and Tom Bridge became the first mother and son to win Race Across the World last night, with a margin of just 19 minutes – making it the closest final in the BBC show’s history.

After 51 days of racing on land across China, Nepal and India, covering a distance of 14,000km for the equivalent price of the air fare, and without bank cards or smartphones, the pair were hugely emotional when they came first.

Turning the page to discover they’d clinched the £20k prize, an emotional Caroline cried: “We must never doubt ourselves again. Ever, ever, ever.”

Writing their names in the book, Tom said: “That’s a really good feeling, I’m lost for words, I can’t believe it, 51 days racing through countries I never thought I’d go to, I never thought we’d come this far, I never thought we’d achieve so much and I’ve never been prouder of my mum – she got me through it.”

Tom and Caroline won the race with the closest time ever

The winners had started the final leg, from Panaji in Goa, nearly seven hours ahead of Letitia and Elizabeth. Sprinting to the finish line in Kanniyakumari – India’s most southerly point – the sisters came in second place, having remained consistently strong competitors throughout the contest. They were followed by teenage couple Fin Gough and Sioned Clay, from Wales, while brothers Brian and Melvyn Mole finished fourth after leaving on the final leg 17 hours after race leaders Caroline and Tom.

The show’s 8million viewers have learned that housewife Caroline, 60, applied to take part after feeling she’d missed out on life by being a housewife, while Tom, 21, revealed he’d been expelled from school for smoking marijuana, which resulted in him missing his GCSEs. In recent years, he has worked as a labourer on a building site.

After their win, Caroline declared: “My God, this race has meant so much. We’ve learnt so much, we’ve enjoyed it, and to actually win it as well as to have the experience is the best thing that could have happened to us.”

Tom agreed: “Doing the experience in itself is winning but to actually get to that book first and open it and to see that it was empty was something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Elizabeth and Letitia narrowly missed out as they secured second(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert)

Having vowed to keep the secret of their win to themselves, Caroline admitted she’d told her husband, Christian, a barrister, within minutes of getting in the car on the way home to Bury St Edmunds from the airport.

Calling the trip her “lifetime achievement”, Caroline said that the prize money would go towards Tom setting himself up as a handyman. “Thomas is starting up a business and it’s been inspired by India and I’d like to help him with that,” she said.

Tom, an only child, added: “I don’t want to be stupid and waste it. Mum and I want to go backpacking again so some of it will go towards that.”

During the series it also emerged that Tom has cerebral palsy, which affects his right side. “I feel like my left hand just does what it’s told, whereas my right hand feels like it’s disconnected from my brain, but it’s something I don’t really talk about,” he told viewers.

Race Across The World’s Caroline and Tom managed to cinch victory(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert)

At the end of the race Letitia and Elizabeth were disappointed not to have won but still “proud of us” for coming such a close second. Sioned and Fin arrived 26 minutes later and agreed they had “done well” with Fin reasoning: “It would have been incredible – but we can’t all come first.”

Brothers Brian and Melvyn, in their 60s, made up huge time on the final leg, finishing just over three hours behind the leaders. “We’ve done very well actually,” they agreed. “Really pleased for the guys that have won it. Beer? Desperately, and definitely.”