Irish cyclist McLaughlin reclaims world Everesting record | Sticky Bottle

*Ronan McLaughlin has retaken the record in Everesting and is just the second rider in history to break the seven-hour mark*

Irish cyclist Ronan McLaughlin has retaken the world Everesting record; returning to Mamore Gap to take the title from American cyclist Sean Gardner and shaving almost 20 minutes off the previous record.

While current WorldTour riders and former top pros, led
by Alberto Contador, have all gone for the record and held it at various times,
it’s the Irish and American amateur riders who have traded the record more
recently.

McLaughlin, of course, is not a typical “amateur” in that he previously rode for the An Post-Chainreaction Continental team. He also represented Ireland at elite level many times, including at the World Road Championships in Valkenburg in 2012, won by Philippe Gilbert.

However, McLaughlin has been racing part-time, and working full-time, since 2014 so he has effectively returned to the amateur ranks. And that really puts into perspective the significance of what he has done.

And with his latest ride McLaughlin has become just the second rider in history to go under seven hours for the Everesting ride.

*US rider Sean Gardner became the first person in the world to break the seven-hour mark for Everesting last October. But now Ireland's Ronan McLaughlin has gone a staggering 20 minutes faster*

Last October Gardner clocked 6:59:38, just about going under that golden seven-hour marker in Virginia. He did that on a 116km ride featuring 51 laps of a climb with an average gradient of 15.5 per cent but with a maximum gradient of 22.6 per cent.

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But now McLaughlin has done the 8,848.86 metres required in a time of 6:40:54, that’s close to 20 minutes faster than the previous record. That will take some beating – either by pros or even the best organised and fittest amateurs.

McLaughlin did his ride on March 23rd, though has just announced it this evening. He did his challenge on an 810metre stretch of Mamore Gap, an agonising climb as anyone who has raced up it will attest.

The section of the climb he took on had an average gradient of 14.2 per cent. McLaughlin needed to complete just under 76 laps to reach the required elevation for an Everesting but did 78 laps just to be sure.

The Irish rider previously set a world record on Mamore Gap - on July 30th last - when he recorded a time of 7:04:41, beating multiple Grand Tour winner Alberto Contador by some 20 minutes.

McLaughlin, just over two weeks earlier had shattered the Irish record when he recorded the fifth fastest Everesting in the world, with a time of 8 hours 13 minutes.

He took to Mamore Gap - by now a happy hunting ground for him - for that effort in mid July and went back to the same climb on Thursday, July 30^th, to try and go even faster.

Incredibly he not only beat his own time but went almost one hour faster, recording a time of 7 hours 18 minutes to secure the world record before Gardner later took it from him. But now it's back where it belongs; in Ireland.