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An Irish cyclist and triathlete has set a new Irish ‘Everesting’ record up the full 8,848 metre elevation to shatter the previous record.
Rob Lawrence of Ballymena Road Club broke the record yesterday,
Sunday, in a time of 11 hours 50 minutes and 24 seconds.
That beat the previous fastest recorded time, which was set by Dave O’Shea on the Shay Elliott climb in Co Wicklow.
O’Shea recorded a time of 14hrs and 47 minutes in August, 2015, and his time is recognised as the fastest time by Hells 500.
The Hells 500 group are the creators and custodians of the Everesting concept, involving cyclists climbing up the same hill repeatedly to an elevation equal to Mount Everest.
All official times must be ratified by Hells 500, the group that recently ruled Bora-Hansgrohe’s Emanuel Buchmann's time of 7hrs 28mins was not a new record because he had not followed the rules.
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Last weekend Lachlan Morton of EF Pro Cycling set a new
record of 7:32:54 at altitude in Colorado, beating the previous record set by
Keegan Swanson.
While the time set by Rob Lawrence had not at the time of
writing been ratified by Hells 500, it was almost three hours faster than Dave
O’Shea’s in Wicklow five years ago.
Lawrence rides for Ballymena Road Club and also races
with Riada Triathlon club. He set off on Sunday morning at 5am, with father
Bill for support.
The Randalstown man covered 135 miles
and ascended the Old Portglenone Road, Ballymena, Co Antrim, 174 times to
complete the challenge and smash the previous Irish record by 2hrs 57mins.
The climb was three tenths of a mile – 482.8 metres – and
was 8.4 per cent in gradient. His team said only four cyclists in either
Britain or Ireland have gone under 12 hours.
Hall Booth officiated on the day so hopefully
confirmation of the record will come through in time from Hells 500.
MG Coaching were the team behind preparing Lawrence for
what was a fantastic ride. We’ll have a chat with the man of the moment soon.
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