DURHAM – Laura Burns had precious little time Sunday to savor her victory in the Durham Warriors Survival Challenge.

Barely an hour after she prevailed over her closest rival, Jan Weigle of Switzerland, Burns had to drive to Portland and catch a flight to Chicago, where she teaches middle school. Classes began on Monday morning.

Burns bested 20 other competitors at the Aug. 22-24 challenge, hosted by former “Survivor” winner Bob Crowley and his wife, Peggy, at Maine Forest Yurts – 110 mostly wooded acres they own in Durham – for the benefit of veterans and public service groups such as the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.

“She was emotional with the win,” Peggy Crowley said of Burns early Monday morning, as her husband drove Weigle to the airport. “She didn’t want to fly with the trophy because it was too fragile. A friend of hers drove it to Chicago.”

Bob Crowley’s cousin, Gordon Hurtubise of Cape Elizabeth, made the “Bobster” trophy out of lobster shells. This one included a little bow tie, in honor of Bob Crowley’s trademark.

Peggy Crowley said that the three teams, comprising seven contestants each, morphed into one consisting of the final 11, the MEGEZO team, after tribal councils whittled down the field. From that point on, she said, they competed as individuals.

Burns, Weigle and Coby Archa of Texas, who competed in “Survivor: Palau” in 2005, made it to the final three.

“They stood on poles, a balancing challenge for 4 minutes, then went to another, higher pole,” Peggy Crowley said. “Archer fell off, leaving Weigle with Burns, and then they went to a final council. The rest of MEGEZO was on the jury, and they voted for the winner, 7-2.”

Crowley said that about 150 spectators attended the Survival Challenge on Saturday and Sunday, following a smaller turnout on Friday.

“Everybody left with a smile on their face, and said they wanted to come back and volunteer next year,” she said. “This year we had 11 come back. It was so cool that we brought former ‘Survivor’ contestants out. They really got into the game.”

None other than Sandra Diaz of North Carolina, a two-time “Survivor” champion, said Friday that the Durham Warriors course was tougher than she would care to tackle.

“I’m not a physical person,” said Diaz, who won in 2003 and in 2010. “And on ‘Survivor,’ we only do challenges once a day with breaks in between, not 10 a day. This is hard.”

Diaz had just landed in Portland that midnight, and got up at 6 a.m. to make it to Durham for the 8 a.m. event kickoff. It was her first visit to Maine.

“I know some of the ‘Survivors’ here, and I have some friends here,” she said, after walking back up the hill to the Crowley farm, when the competition ended at 4 p.m.

Three former “Survivor” competitors each competed with one of the three teams. Matt Bischoff of Cincinnati was on the SKOK squad, Archa was on the AWASOS squad, and Kathy Sleckman of Illinois competed on the BEZO team.

Diaz said she had thoughts of competing again not long after she first won “Survivor.”

“I knew that I would play again,” she said. “I just didn’t know when.”

Richard Hatch of Rhode Island, the very first “Survivor” champion and close friend of the Crowleys, joined others in a “meet-and-greet,” held Friday at the spacious Crowley farm. Unlike Diaz, Hatch has visited the Crowleys many times, and he was on hand for last year’s first Warriors Challenge.

“I love Bob and Peggy,” Hatch said. “I like to help them get ready. It’s just rewarding. You take this silly thing and you make it into something that helps people. Bob and Peggy are just the salt of the earth.”

Last year’s winner of the Durham Warriors Project Survival Challenge, Russell O’Cain, said he will come back to Durham every year. His daughter, Jessica Fralick, wants to compete next year.

“If they do like a blood versus water thing, I might be in it, too,” O’Cain said.

Bob Crowley said that the first challenge was probably the most difficult of the 17 events he and the volunteers set up.

“The first challenge was probably the toughest,” he said, as he watched Friday’s events and chatted with spectators. “They had to run across a log, grapple things and put puzzles together. But the rope challenge was hard, too. There was a 75-foot rope wrapped over, under and around trees, and a pulley. They are strapped to a rope and have to follow where the rope goes. They flip over or under the pole three times or around a tree, or wherever the rope goes. It involves a lot of bruising and knocking.”

“Survivor” superfan John Vataha kept spectators abreast of how each challenge was proceeding – just like viewers are accustomed to when they watch “Survivor.”

Bob Crowley enjoyed being a spectator.

“It’s going more than smoothly,” he said Friday afternoon. “There are all these volunteers who are doing such a great job. Look at this, I’m up here talking to you.”

Wearing his signature bowtie, Bob Crowley, above, chats with Linda Foster of Freeport and other spectators at the Durham Warriors Survival Challenge, which he and his wife Peggy hosted last weekend at Maine Forest Yurts in Durham.  Contestants count items during the “1-2-3-4” event of the Durham Warriors Survival Challenge at Maine Forest Yurts. Laura Burns, front, center, holds the “Bobster Trophy” she earned for winning the Durham Warriors Survival Challenge last week. She poses with the other contestants at the Crowley farm. Burns, a middle-school teacher, had to quickly drive to Portland and catch a flight to Chicago, where classes began on Monday morning.  Sandra Diaz, two-time “Survivor” winner, relaxes in a lawn chair on Bob and Peggy Crowley’s farm, after watching the first day of competition last Friday in the Durham Warriors Survival Challenge. Richard Hatch, the first winner of the CBS reality show, “Survivor,” enjoys a moment with volunteers during the “meet-and-greet” segment of the Durham Warriors Survival Challenge last Friday at the home of his good friends, Bob and Peggy Crowley.