Mark Beaumont

Having aimed for less than 50 days for his Africa Solo expedition, Mark Beaumont massively overachieved his goal and arrived in Cape Town after only 42 days. He beat the former record of 59 days, set by South African rider Keegan Longuiera earlier this year, by an amazing 17 days. Having started out on the 10,000km (6,300 mile) route on April 10th, the Perthshire ultra endurance cyclist headed south through Egypt, through the searing heat of the Sahara desert, over the highlands of Ethiopia before racing through the great grasslands to South Africa where he finished in Cape Town.

Neither food poisoning, changeable weather conditions (including storms and torrential rain), flat tyres and other mechanical problems, nor dreadful road conditions could slow the Scot down for long. During the Africa Solo he covered a total distance of 10,882.9km, climbed over 58,000 metres, and spent over 438 hours in the saddle. He regularly rode in excess of 300km per day – on Wednesday (day 41) he cycled for 17 hours covering 363km, on Monday he managed a monstrous 374km in 12 hours at an average speed of 29.5km/h! 

 Apart from an incredible endurance fitness level and his immense travelling experience, Mark’s recipe to success was cutting-edge racing technology, with his lightweight yet durable Endura kit and his custom built Koga Solacio disc-equipped carbon bike high up on the list of ingredients. For the huge distances that he covered on a daily basis while carrying all the basics with him, and to deal with the climatic challenges of Africa, the outfit had to be lightweight, fast-wicking, offer reliable sun protection, and it had to fit perfectly and comfortably.