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bruce berkeley.jpgBruce Berkeley disqualified from year record attempt
The Ultramarathon Cycling Association (UMCA) says it has disqualified London-based bike mechanic Bruce Berkeley’s attempt to set a record for the greatest distance cycled in a year for non-compliance with its rules.
The organisation says it agreed to become the certifying body for the record, which it terms the Highest Annual Mileage Record (HAM’R) “in response to requests from the ultracycling community ... as no other body was willing to take on this record.”
Berkeley is the current holder of the Guinness World Records for the greatest distances ridden in a week and in a month, but that body does not recognise an annual distance record because it considers it too dangerous to attempt [Editor's note: Since this article was published we have been informed this is not the case and are checking with Guinness World Records].
With the USA’s Kurt Searvogel joining Great Britain’s Steve Abraham 12 months ago in setting out to try and beat the ‘unbreakable’ Year record of 75,065 miles set by Tommy Godwin in 1939, the UMCA agreed to set the rules for the challenge and certify the record to guarantee transparency.
When Berkeley said last year he was attempting the year record during 2016, no reference was made to the UMCA or the HAM’R, although he said his distance would be recorded on Strava.
Replying to a question on Twitter on 2 January, when he was asked whether he had registered with the UMCA for the HAM’R he replied, “Yes I have,” although as far as road.cc is aware he has never appeared on the official list of competitors.
As initial news of his disqualification was revealed on Sunday morning on his Facebook page through a post by Chris ‘Hoppo’ Hopkinson, Berkeley wrote: “What a load of rubbish, an admin error at their end!”
But subsequently, in a statement on its website, the UMCA’s records chairman, Drew Clark, confirmed: “Bruce Berkeley has been officially disqualified in his HAM’R.
“He was not in compliance with the rules when he started. The UMCA gave him several chances to become compliant but he did nothing to avail himself of those chances. He never came into full compliance.
“Of course, he may continue to ride, but his mileage will not be certified by UMCA. We wish Mr. Berkeley the best in his cycling endeavours,” it added.
The UMCA did not say which rule or rules he had not complied with.
Berkeley, originally from New Zealand, is currently riding in Australia where he will spend the first four months of the year before returning to the UK.
Right now he is in Adelaide, South Australia, where the Santos Tour Down Under is taking place this week, and has ridden 3,834 miles so far in January.
Searvogel completed his ride a week ago today with a provisional distance of 76,076 miles, while Abraham, who broke his ankle when he was hit by a scooter rider in March, embarked on a fresh attempt at the record on 8 August.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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15 comments
He's still claiming that he's going for the Guinness world record, despite him not fulfilling their criteria either.
Assos are one of his sponsors and they have posted today on facebook that he is going for the Guinness record.
Surely Road.cc should pick this up and get to the truth. He's not a world record holder and isn't going to set or break a record.
OK,
here it is: KURT SEARVOGEL in GWR
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/greatest-distance-cycl...
Now can anyone find Bruce Berkeley on GWR? I can´t and it is not just me.
The UCMA sound very petty to me, and who cares what rules they want to set.
If anyone want to cycle for a year, I think it a bit sad, if their only motivation is acknowledgement but some committee somewhere!
Do it for yourself Bruce, not for anyone else, otherwise your just wasting your time chasing somebody elses dream.
Checking the Guinness site, there's no mention of Bruce Berkeley or his claim for farthest distance cycled - either in a week or a month. The month record is held by Janet Davison, set in August 2015 at 6455km. There is no standing week record.
It would seem that Bruce's 'records' have not been ratified by Guinness, and now the UCMA have refused to oversee his year attempt because he 'can't afford' a SPOT tracker (cost £150) - though he can afford to go to Australia to ride.
I suspect that Bruce isn't comfortable with authority and its attendant beauraucracy, and simply can't be arsed to jump through their hoops. It's a shame, as his efforts will go unrecognised.
GPS / Strava is a bit rubbish at milages, they come out high any time you stop riding and keep recording, odometer would be better.
It would be a real shame if Bruce was to get a record mileage over the year, for it not to be regarded as official. I think that there probably needs to be more to a record attempt admin-wise than simply logging a daily gpx of a ride on Strava...
I read someone's opinion that Searvogel has not broken Godwin's record and his reasoning is fairly straightforward.....
Tommy's record was for distance in a calendar year, hence he started on Jan 1st and finished on Dec 31st. But after that he carried straight on riding and achieved 100,000 miles in 500 days.
Apparently, in that 16+ months there were a couple of 365 day periods when, helped by the improving spring weather, he rode well in excess of his calendar-year record and Searvogel is short of those distances.
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Dave Barter (author of "The Year", the book about Godwin's record) has stated on YACF that he believes Tommy's highest 365-day total was 77201 miles. However, he is at pains to point out that the record is for a distance ridden between two dates stated in advance, and distances can't be cherry-picked in retrospect. It's also a fact that Kurt's ride is recognised as a 'benchmark' by UCMA, not a 'record'.
IN FACT the UMCA have recognised Kurt Searvogel as a HAM´R record holder. In their statement of setting up the HAM´R they wrote "So any rider making an attempt per the rules below can get a record certified at a mileage below that recorded by Godwin, but we all know that Godwin's mark is the target. The corresponding target for women is the mileage of 29,603.7 miles logged by Billie Dovey in 1938." http://ultracycling.com/sections/records/max-mileage.php
IN FACT UMCA recognised Godwin´s ride as a benchmark.
SPECIAL NOTE: UMCA has announced they are in negotiations with Guinness about recognition of Kurt Searvogels record ride and has announced that these are not finalised but going in a positive direction. ALSO Kurt Searvogel has on his personal Facebook page and on his Tarzan Rides the HAM'R Kurt Searvogel Facebook page posted: "
Dear Kurt Searvogel
We are thrilled to inform you that your application for Greatest distance cycled in a year (male) has been successful and you are now the Guinness World Records Title Holder!
You will shortly receive your Guinness World Records certificate in the post.
Congratulations!
Records Management Team
Guinness World Records"
I'm pretty sure that Tommy didn't have live tracking...
So in that case Kurt DID NOT break Tommy's record, because Tommy's is covered under Guinness and not the UMCA. Kurt set a new and completing record alongside Tommy's.
Similar to the hour record, where you have two different versions.
I'm really surprised that Bruce hasn't just complied with the live tracker requirement. It isn't that onerous and Steve Abraham and Kurt Searvogel seem to have had no problem complying with it. Ultimately it is relatively easy to fake uploads to Strava if you really wanted to, and so they are right IMHO to have this as an extra measure.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that Bruce is cheating, but he surely doesn't want to end up being regarded like this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Webb
One other point, Berkeley doesn't hold the record for distance cycled in a week Richard Nutt holds that having beaten Berkeleys record record in June 2015.
"Berkeley is the current holder of the Guinness World Records for the greatest distances ridden in a week and in a month, but that body does not recognise an annual distance record because it considers it too dangerous to attempt."
Is this statement about Guinness World Records not recognising the annual record actually true. I'm not convinced about that.
This year Kajsa Tylen is attempting to break the womens annual distance record in accordance with the rules as set out by Guinness World Records. They are 100% recognising the womens record, so why not the mens, or is it that the men are using the UMCA Rules as they are less stringent than the Guinness World Record rules.
It would be good if some investigative journalist could find out the truth.
Apparently, the non-compliance is that he isnt using live tracking.