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French 102-year-old to attempt to break his own Hour Record

Mighty M. Marchand aiming for 25km, but can he crack the very first hour ever recorded?

A 102-year-old Frenchman is about to try and break his own record for the greatest distance ridden in an hour by a centenarian.

Robert Marchand holds the record of 24.25km in a category specifically created for him by cycling’s governing body, the UCI. He set that record on the track at the World Cycling Centre (WCC) in Aigle on February 17, 2012.

Tomorrow, almost two years later, he’s aiming to exceed 25km on the new velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, just outside Paris, according to The Connexion.

If he makes it, he won’t be far off the mark set in the very first recorded bicycle record attempt. In 1876 Frank Dodds covered 15.85 miles (25.51km)  on an Ordinary (high-wheeler) bike at Cambridge University athletics ground.

Later in 2012 M. Marchand also set a record for the fastest 100km ride by a centenarian, when he covered the distance in 4 hours 17 minutes and 27 seconds.

His first record attempt came about at the urging of Gérard Mistler, Président of the Ardéchoise Cyclo-Promotion sportive.The centenerian is a perennial entrant to the ride, launched in 1992 when he was a sprightly 79 years of age.

He started racing when he was just 14 years old, entering his first event under an assumed name because he was too young to compete.

In his long life, the remarkable M. Marchand has been a gym instructor to the Paris fire department, worked as a lumberjack in Canada, and lived in Venezuela for several years. He now lives in Mitry-Mory near Paris.

As well as cycling he has turned his hand to boxing, gymnastics and weightlifting. He puts his longevity and ability to be active at an advanced age down to luck with his health and keeping moving. 

“My advice to anyone, young or old, is to keep moving. I do ‘physical culture’ every day. It works out my whole body and keeps me supple. Some people when they reach 80 years old, start playing cards and they stay immobile. Not me. I’ve never been able to keep still…”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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15 comments

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brakesmadly | 10 years ago
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I'm going to go for that record too. Should be achievable, after all I have over 50 years to train for it!  35

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OldRidgeback | 10 years ago
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What a dude.

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ChancerOnABike | 10 years ago
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Bonnet de douche!  16

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Paul J | 10 years ago
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Awesome guy. There's a lot people half his age, hell a third his age, who'd struggle to average 23.34 km/h for a 100 km ride. That'd hold true even amongst regular cyclists!

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Matt eaton | 10 years ago
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Yes Boss!

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SirCav | 10 years ago
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 41

Bravo, monsieur. Formidable!

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Quince | 10 years ago
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I love the French!

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Karbon Kev | 10 years ago
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good grief, well done that man! best of luck with this latest attempt.

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mikeprytherch | 10 years ago
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Chapeau  41

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pmr | 10 years ago
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Chapeau  41

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lookmanohands | 10 years ago
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 41

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andyp | 10 years ago
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'in a category specifically created for him'
Brilliant. Can I have a category specifically for me please? I'll have tonnes of records in no time.

*clearly I am in awe of M. Marchand. This just made me giggle.

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farrell | 10 years ago
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Casquette?

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jollygoodvelo replied to farrell | 10 years ago
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farrell wrote:

Casquette?

I think they mean he's Beret good.

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Leviathan | 10 years ago
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Very well done. No one is allowed to say the french 'hat' word, cheesemongers!

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