Epic cycle ride ends in triumph

A Briton became the fastest person ever to cycle round the world on Friday, pedalling past the finishing line at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris 195 days and six hours after he set out.

Tanned, bearded and flanked by a police escort, Mark Beaumont was greeted by cheers from family and friends at the end of a journey in which he crossed 20 countries.

He suffered water poisoning in Iran, food poisoning in Pakistan, and was knocked off his bike three times - by a donkey in Pakistan, a motorbike in India and in Florida by an old woman in a car.

Mugged in Louisiana, locked up in Pakistan, and nearly washed away by torrential rains in Thailand, Beaumont, 25, said he "never felt like giving up".

To beat the previous Guinness World Record, the politics graduate from Newburgh, Fife, had to cycle at least 28,800km.

The former record holder was another Briton, Steve Strange, who in 2004-5 cycled 29,478km in 276 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes. Beaumont smashed that by almost three months after cycling 160km a day, with a day off every two weeks.

Low point

A low point was travelling 800 miles through the lawless Balochistan province in Pakistan, where he was given a police escort by day and locked up by night in police cells "for my own safety". He lost a stone.

After initial saddles sores, his body soon got accustomed to the routine, but mentally there were tough moments.

"Then it's just a case of getting through the next hours, or minutes," Beaumont said. "There were long stretches where I didn't speak to anyone and had no contact. I took a lot of strength from the fact that a lot of people were watching a little dot on a GPS map and knew where I was." His position was updated every two hours on his website via satellite. Beaumont was congratulated by Prince William, who is patron of Tusk, one of the charities he raised money for. He has already raised around £5,000 (Dh37,00) but expects to make at least another £10,000.