THERE’S a first time for everything, and team Goat Islanders consisting of Suzanne Stanley, Nikolai Lewis and Michelle Ferguson came together to win the first ever ATL Ram Goat Run.

“I work for a charity, Jamaica Environment Trust (JET). I like doing things for charity so when I saw the event being advertised on social media I had to partake,” Stanley told Auto.

The story behind the trio was just as diverse as the challenges the event posed.

“We were actually a group of random people. I was originally supposed to do Ram Goat Run with my aunt, but that fell through,” she explained.

With only their membership in JET a common element, instead of family or friends, there wasn’t a winning strategy, just the aim to have fun and bring awareness of the current issue surrounding the Goat Islands.

Along the way, the team eventually became close friends as they tackled tough challenges like having to fit themselves into a small object. Something they did four times over to get it right.

“We tried to fit ourselves into a tyre, then a cardboard box, and then a cooler,” she said.

This need to get things just right, especially pictures for the social media section, was part of the reason why Stanley felt the team eventually won.

“I think our success came because we went for the big point challenges first.”

Completing 34 of the 35 of the challenges, plus finding ‘the goat’ put them at the top of field at the end of the day.

Of course, they plan to return next year to defend their crown.

Stephen Hector, Global PR director at Sandals Resorts International and event organiser, was pleased with the inaugural staging.

“Given the success of this year’s staging, we’re looking at a substantially increasing the capacity of the event and are aiming for 500 cars with possibly two separate classes of entry,” he said.

Hector hinted the route might also be different for 2014, with an even larger afterparty. He also said that interested parties can still contribute to the charity the event was staged for, We Care for Cornwall Regional Hospital, at www.ramgoatrun.com