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Lucky winner Stuart Marlow of Whitley Bay has been awarded The Camping and Caravanning Club’s Alternative Decathlon gold medal and has won a new four berth Elddis Xplore 504 touring caravan plus a week in one of the Club’s Exclusive Lodges!

The Club ran its online ‘Alternative Decathlon’ photography competition to promote an alternative summer experience, encouraging those holidaymakers who wanted to escape some or all of the sporting action, to enjoy the great outdoors by using UK Club Sites and the Camping in the Forest network.

The alternative summer of 2012 Decathlon events were – Weightlifting, Individual Pursuit, Freestyle, Hurdles, Beam, Relay, ‘Discuss’, Butterfly, Backstroke, and Parallel ‘Baas’ – with each one having been selected to symbolise camping and those Real Richness, ‘money can’t buy experiences’ within the great outdoors.

All entrants needed to do was simply upload an image relating to their chosen event and answer an Elddis-related question to be in with a chance of winning some exciting prizes.

Stuart’s award-winning ‘Discuss’ image of his three-year-old son Max with friends whilst on a recent camping trip was selected as the overall winner from thousands of entries and he said: “This competition is by far the biggest thing I've ever won so I was utterly gobsmacked and thrilled to bits when I received the phone call!

“I've been camping since childhood and go at least once a year these days; I love the feeling of relaxation you get from just being outdoors. The sounds (and silence), the smells and the views make simple things like having a coffee a million times more pleasurable.

“We’re looking forward to going away in our new Elddis Xplore; we love Northumberland and the Yorkshire Dales and Moors, but might venture a bit further with the new caravan. Wales is somewhere we keep meaning to explore – so hopefully we’ll get the chance to do it!”

Stuart, together with his wife Sam and son Max, were presented with their new caravan at the Elddis factory in County Durham and given an exclusive factory tour.

The Xplore range, first introduced by Elddis in 2008, has fast become one of the UK’s most popular ranges – proving particularly appealing to families discovering caravanning for the first time. The 504 model, chosen by the Marlow family, is the fixed bed layout – a bestseller for Elddis.

This model, from the multi award-winning Xplore range, boasts not only a sumptuous fixed bed, but also a dressing table area and bathroom with rapid-heat water system.

With the Xplore’s ingenious Whale ® underfloor space heater, there’s an incredible amount of internal space and storage – perfect for all Max’s toys and games, with plenty left for mum and dad, too!

The Elddis prize package also includes an SE Pack (including a BPW Winterhoff stabiliser, alloy wheels, door flyscreen, spare wheel and carrier).

Elddis also arranged for the Marlow’s local Elddis Retailer, North East Caravans of Ashington, to take part in the vehicle handover at Elddis and they will be the family’s first port of call for future servicing and camping accessories.

Other supporters of the photography competition, who also provided some substantial prizes included; Merlin Entertainments Group, RAC, Hi-Tec Sports, The Monster Factory, Visit Peak District & Derbyshire, Gulliver’s Theme Parks, Carefree Travel Service, Drayton Manor Theme Park, Exclusive Lodges, the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry as well as several of the Club’s Franchise Sites (Eskdale, Bellingham, Cheddar, Thetford Forest, Dartmoor Barley Meadow and Ravenglass).

Rob Quine, Managing Director at Elddis, was thrilled to be asked to help judge the competition entries and he added: “The calibre of the entries was quite astounding and we had a difficult task picking a winner. The Alternative Decathlon competition really sparked everyone’s imagination and there were some very creative images.

“What we loved about the Alternative Decathlon was that it got everyone talking about why they are so passionate about camping and caravanning and the photo competition was a great way of sharing this and engaging with others. Both The Camping and Caravanning Club and Elddis’ social media sites were buzzing with people talking about the competition.”

Robert Louden, the Club’s Director General, said: “Domestic holidays are still popular and only help the UK economy – so we’re delighted that so many people have supported our campaign to encourage people to holiday at home by entering our online photography competition.

“Choosing a winner was very difficult as there were so many fantastic entries, however Stuart’s really stood out and encapsulated the spirit of the campaign.

“I’m sure Stuart and his family will enjoy many camping and caravanning holidays for years to come in their new Elddis Xplore – it’s a fantastic unit from one of the industry’s leading caravan manufacturers.”

For a full list of Alternative Decathlon event winners, please visit their website

Remember to watch the Club’s winner’s video here

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Cheers  Ratty