Benjamin Miles had been preparing to break a world record for over 2 years.
In 2020, he was finally able to make his dream come true and achieved the record title for longest marathon static cycling.
The marathon began 16th June 2020 in Son Amar, Mallorca, Spain, and lasted for 277 hours, 20 minutes and 30 seconds.
That's like cycling from London to Dubai!
After cycling for one hour, Ben would ‘earn’ five minutes towards breaks.
After his first day of cycling, Ben decided to push himself to cycle for 72 hours without sleep to build up his five-minute breaks so he could get a full 6 hours of rest.
Ben had a supportive team who monitored his progress and divided every hour into 4 to ensure that he would hit a minimum of 5km every 15 minutes.
If his rhythm was dropping or if he needed increase his momentum, his team would notify him.
After 4 days, Ben was feeling good physically, but he was worried about his mental health.
The sleep deprivation from cycling was causing him to forget or lose his speech.
He felt as if the room, in which he was attempting the record title, was changing.
Finally, after 12 days, an official adjudicator was able to announce Ben’s success live on a video call.
“I’m very very happy, there are so many emotions, words cannot describe how I feel... It’s only me on the bike but there is a team of people behind me who are incredible. They are very good friends and I have a lot of trust in them and thank god that they trust me too - it’s more than a team, we are a family.”
Ben started the official attempt on 5 June - World Environment Day - and aimed to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
Ben has a very strong opinion about not trying to raise money, as money is not the solution to pollution - the people and public are the solution.
By attempting this record, Ben hoped to encourage the public and media to discuss the issue of pollution and promote initiatives to recycle - Cycle to Recycle.
The achievement was made even more special because Ben proposed to his partner shortly after the live streamed certificate presentation.
She said yes, so Ben is now engaged as well as being Officially Amazing™!
Interested in breaking a record title? Attempt to break a world record for brand awareness, a product launch, celebration, CSR, fundraising or employee engagement – find out more here, or contact us for more information.
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