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bruce berkeley.jpgBruce Berkeley says Guinness World Records certifying his year record attempt
London-based cyclist Bruce Berkeley says that his attempt to ride further than anyone has ever managed in a year will be certified by Guinness World Records.
Earlier this week, the New Zealander was disqualified by the Ultramarathon Cycling Association (UMCA) from attempting the record under its rules because despite it approaching him, he had failed to comply with its requirements.
While Berkeley’s initial announcement of his attempt on the record last year made no mention of Guinness World Records being the certifying body, he told road.cc on Monday that it would be monitoring his efforts.
“To clarify, this year I am aiming for a Guinness World Record for greatest distance cycled in a year,” he said.
“This is being organised and recognised officially through Guinness and not through UMCA. I will continue to follow the guidelines as stipulated by Guinness during this challenge.
He added: “This is not to detract from anyone else who is attempting the challenge through different organisations and I wish everybody else luck with their endeavours.”
Earlier this month, under UMCA rules, the American Kurt Searvogel surpassed the 75,065 miles that British rider Tommy Godwin rode in 1939, a record long considered unbreakable.
Another Briton, Steve Abraham, relaunched his challenge in August after his initial attempt, which began last January, was curtailed when he broke his ankle after a moped rider knocked him off his bike. His attempt is also under UMCA rules.
There is a widespread misconception – and we will hold our hands up and acknowledge that it is one that we at road.cc have on occasion repeated – that Guinness World Records would not recognise a fresh attempt on Godwin’s record because of the physical demands involved.
But as Abraham says in this post on his website, that is a “myth.”
Berkeley is already a holder of two Guinness World Records – for the greatest distances cycled in a week and in a month, set respectively in 2014 and 2015 [Ed - these have never been ratified by Guinness World Records, and we apologise for incorrectly stating they had been; see our subsequent coverage here].
Currently, he is in Australia benefiting from the Antipodean summer, and will head back to the UK in April to continue his attempt and has ridden 4,258 miles so far in January, according to Strava.
We have spoken to Guinness World Records to seek confirmation that they are indeed certifying Berkeley’s record attempt with effect from 1 January 2016, and will update this story once we have their response.
Both Guinness World Records and the UMCA have stringent rules in place for verifying records, but it could be that we are heading for a situation similar to boxing where there will be different holders of the title of the year record holder, depending which body you look at.
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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20 comments
Surprise, surprise it looks like the 'record attempt' is over.
Well, he's blagged himself a couple of nice bikes and a new wardrobe so it wasn't all in vain.
There's something not right about this whole thing.
The unorganised preparation, the hostile approach to the UMCA, the ignorance of the rules that are there to preserve the integrity of ther record, the inconsistant 'rules' followed by Guiness attempts.
Coments on facebook suggest that this is either a publicity stunt or even possibly a ruse to gain sponsorship. The fact that the myth that Bruce is already a guiness record holder for weekly and monthly mileage is being perpetuated by his 'fans' even though this it blatently untrue and not corrected by him is a bit suspicioius. Sponsors listed as; Assos, Canyon, which is supplying him with its Ultimate CF SLX and Aeroad CF SLX models, Madison, Shimano, Lazer, Continental, Lake, Selle Italia, Strava, Evolution, Boyd/Noble Wheels and Garmin.
Call my cynical but something just doesn't seem right.
Re the comments on the week and month records, we have clarified with Guinness World Records that Bruce Berkeley holds neither and apologise for the error. More here.
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/greatest-distance-cycl...
Kurt's record is already on the Guinness site not sure why Bruce's aren't there.
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/greatest-distance-cycl...
Kurt Searvogel is already posted on the Guinness Site. This should make it interesting for Bruce to get his ratified.
Also, why aren't Bruce's other "records" listed?
Good luck to all of those undertaking this stupendous challenge. It's a shame that there can't be one set of rules that covers all attempts, however. Is there going to be a boxing/darts situation, where you have parallel 'official bodies' who each have their own champion/record holder? I hope not
Just to clarify, for those who didn't click on Steve Abraham's post, Tommy doesn't have a certified Guinness Record, as Guinness Records actually began operating in 1955. Also, it would seem that UMCA is actually the easier option as far as red-tape goes. So good luck to Bruce, it's a great challenge regardless, but he needs to find a proper certifying body to back him up if he wants a recognized record.
Yes wasn't Tommy's record in accordance with a challenge and guidelines issued by the equivalent of Cycling Weekly. And didn't some fella in the 70's make a claim for a Guinness WR that was later nullified by that body? Perhaps that is where the misunderstanding that Tommy's record was a GWR (I'm typing on phone, sorry for the GLAs)?
Dave, you are correct that Kajsa is not allowed to draft, and Bruce has been drafting already. Kajsa also has a Spot tracker which is a requirement of Guinness World Records, this seems to be a bone of contention Bruce has with UMCA so I'm unsure how he is satisfying Guinness requirements.
Kajsa is also required to start each ride where she finishes the last one, although there must be exceptions for some degree of travel as Kajsa is going to be cycling around Europe later in the year so she must have an agreement of how she is going to get across the English Channel, I doubt she will be cycling through the Channel Tunnel. Kajsa will have planned her record attempt in detail so will I am sure already have agreement from Guinness World records about travelling overseas.
Best of luck to Bruce in his attempt, but I don't think at the moment he is complying with the Guinness Record rules.
He is not the Guiness Wolrd Record holder for miles cycled in a month
Janet Davidson is
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/118987-farthest-distan...
Nore does he hold the Guiness World Record for miles cycled in a week.
He isn't the Guiness Wolrd Record holder for miles cycled in a month.
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/118987-farthest-distan...
It's Janet Davidson as per the link I've posted.
Given that Kajsa isn't allowed to have anyone in front of her to draft (I think) and that she has a publically viewable live tracker at https://www.followmychallenge.com/live/ayearinthesaddle/ I strongly suspect that Guiness won't validate Bruce's attempt without a restart under different rules. I think they also require Kajsa to start each ride where the last one finished, which would rule out Bruce's reported plan to fly back to the UK part way through the year.
Still, best of luck to Bruce.
Has road.cc had any confirmation from Guinness that they are overseeing this record attempt? They were quite happy to confirm they were overseeing Kajsa Tylen's attempt on the women's year record. I'm sure they will respond to a request for comment?
Can't say I'm happy about being able to change continent to get advantage but in the end it's just taking advantage of available technology. But then I wouldn't expect any attemptees (made up word?) to have to use the same kit that Tommy did in reality.
This is starting to sound like the Judean People's Front.
Have you a link to Bruces existing records? I cant find a week record and the month record is held by Janet Davison.
No-one else can find these either. Maybe they are still being ratified (though as Bruce's attempt at the month was before Janet's this seems a little odd) or they are simply unverified. I know we cyclists are a contrary bunch, but records have to be proved and, as far as I understand it, Bruce hasn't been doing this adequately.
Which Guiness records does Bruce hold? is there a link to these anywhere? the Month is held by Janet Davison and cant find a week record?
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/118987-farthest-distan...
big luck to him
See, so Guinness are happy to certify this record and if Bruce succeeds, he will be the first person to beat Godwin's record. Kurt set a different record under the UMCA and Godwin's is still the Guinness record.