University of Glasgow graduate Mark Beaumont has become the fastest person to cycle around the world.

The 25-year-old arrived in Paris on Friday, February 15, after covering the 18,000 in 195 days, smashing the old record by 81 days. Mark Beaumont 2

During his seven-month journey the politics and economics graduate passed through 20 countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

University of Glasgow Principal, Sir Muir Russell, said: "On behalf of everyone at the University, I would like to congratulate Mark on his outstanding achievement.

"We were delighted that we were able to help with his world record attempt. Mark is a credit to himself and to the University and we are all extremely proud of him."

In preparation for the mammoth task, Mark received extensive training and advice from Dr Niall MacFarlane from Neuroscience and Biomedical Systems.

And Dr Gordon Dickinson from the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences helped plan the route he took.

Dr MacFarlane said: “It goes without saying that this has been a Herculean task.

“We predicted before he left on this endeavour that the energy cost would on average be around 6500 kcal per day and fortunately our predictions were spot on.  To put this into context, he is expending energy equivalent to running two sub-three hour marathons each day for the last 195 days.

“Obviously, he needs to replace all the energy he is using to cycle each day or he would fail. You might not think that 6500 kcal is very much - but it is equivalent to eating around six Christmas dinners. That's a lot of food and if you're anything like me you would find it impossible to move after just one.

“Mark's been successful because he followed a strict plan to prevent fatigue building up during the cycle and to always leave energy to get back on the bike again the next day. He looked on this as a battle of attrition.

“Obviously, there have been situations where this plan has, through necessity, been disregarded and it is testament to his focus and mental strength that he has overcome all barriers and surpassed his own goals.”

First published: 15 February 2008

<< February