PATRON - Mark Beaumont

Mark's vision and determination are an inspiration to anyone who wants to fulfil their potential.

BIOGRAPHY

At the age of 12 Mark Beaumont cycled across Scotland from Dundee to Oban, but only after his mother persuaded him that Land's End to John o' Groats was a long way!

However aged 15 he tackled the 1038 miles from John O'Groats to Lands End and completed his first solo ride which raised £3,000 for Charity.

After graduating from Glasgow University with a degree in Economics and Politics Mark decided to follow his dream and spent a year planning and training to become the fastest person to cycle round the world.

On Friday 15th February at 1530, he completed his 18,000 miles circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle and arrived back at the Arc de Triomphe 194 days and 17 hours after leaving there on 5th August 2007. The total distance cycled was 18,297 miles through 20 countries. Guinness World Records have verified all the data and confirmed Mark as the new Guinness World Record holder by a margin of 81 days.

Just 16 months later, mark set out on his second ultra-endurance expedition to cycle the length of the American Cordillera - the largest mountain range on the planet. As well as cycling 13,000 miles, Mark also climbed the two highest peaks in the North and the South - Mt McKinley in Alaska and Aconcagua in Argentina.

He has been acclaimed for his filming of both adventures which have been shown on the BBC.