Irish endurance rider Joe Barr is planning an assault on the world record for riding the biggest mileage total in a seven-day period. The current record is 3,508km, or 2,180 miles, set by Scotland’s Josh Quigley.
Barr (62) has made a name for himself in the endurance world and is now set to use the Malin-Mizen-Malin route for his record attempt in April. He will have to ride that route, up and down the country, three times if he is to break the record, which is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Barr has already broken the 738-mile Malin-Mizen-Malin record three times in the last seven years. His most recent effort, in 2020, saw him ride the 738-mile, or 1,188km, route in 48hrs 40mins. He took more than four hours off his own previous marker set in November, 2017.
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This time, however, the challenge is much different in that he will be trying to squeeze the maximum number of miles out of himself for seven days. And while he is now a very experienced rider, the challenge ahead of him, sponsored by White’s Oats, is of epic proportions.
“This is the most ambitious record the team and I have taken on. Josh has set the bar high and I haven’t chosen the easiest route in the easiest country,” Barr said looking ahead to his planned attempt starting on April 10th.
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“Our roads are not particularly fast and our weather is not kind. But I wanted to attempt this record in Ireland on a route I know and love. I always say that I live between the hedges and that Irish roads have taught me everything I know.
“So rather than pick a clinical, flat or fast course I’m going to trust that I know these roads, that they know me and that counts for something.
"I began my endurance journey in 2009 in Race Around Ireland. That start line was a fundraiser for Cancer Fund For Children. My child was diagnosed with cancer in 2007.Once you enter the cancer journey as a parent and a family it truly is a ‘long way home.’”
Barr said he constantly thinks of other children and their families who must embark on the same harrowing journey when given a cancer diagnosis. As a result, he will once again fundraise for Cancer Fund for Children during his world record attempt next month.
He said when he stayed at one of the charity’s centres for therapeutic breaks for children and families in Daisy Lodgem Newcastle, Co Down, it had changed his life.
He now wanted to raise money to ensure more children and their families can be offered the same breaks on their cancer journey and towards the construction of a new short break centre in Cong, Co Mayo.
