COUPLE’S TREK HELPS RAISE $1.5M

A TOOWOOMBA couple has helped raise more than $1.5m for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, overcoming bad weather and Covid-19 restrictions to complete the famous Outback Car Trek.

Jack and Vicky Horner were in one of about 60 cars that took part in the event in June, which was held entirely within New South Wales due to the pandemic.

With Mr Horner driving and his wife as the navigator, the pair covered 3500km in their 1972 Ford F100.

After 2020’s event was cancelled due to Covid-19, Mr Horner said the cohort was determined to make sure the trek still went ahead.

“Covid reared its head the week before the start of the Trek with the Victorian lockdown forcing out some 30 cars, or onethird of the Trek,” he said.

“But after a Covid-enforced cancellation in 2020, the first in it’s history, the importance of raising money for the RFDS, especially at this challenging time, and injecting badly-needed income into those small rural communities we visit pushed us on.”

Mr Horner has tackled the trek since 2007, while Mrs Horner joined him in the passenger seat several years later.

ON THE ROAD: Toowoomba man Jack Horner has taken part in the Outback Car Trek, which has raised a record $1.5m over two years for the Royal Flying Doctors Service.