Australian pro cyclist and ultra-endurance racer breaks 1983 record, finishing in 18 hours, 28 minutes
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Lachlan Morton on his Auckland-Wellington ride(Image credit: Rapha)
Lachlan Morton's support van for his record-breaking ride(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
Lachlan Morton on his route(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
Lachlan Morton prepares to set off in Auckland(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
Supporters at the roadside wave him on(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
Morton says he only stopped once, for less than a minute(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
The Aussie is cheered on(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
An exhausted Morton is told he has broken the record(Image credit: Dan King for Rapha)
Ultra-endurance racer Lachlan Morton has broken the record for the fastest time from Auckland to Wellington, a distance of 648km.
The EF Pro Cycling rider completed the route, spanning the full length of New Zealand's North Island, in 18 hours and 28 minutes.
In doing so he knocked one hour and 32 minutes off the previous record, which had stood since 1983.
The record had been set by Brian Fleck, a post office worker who was 43 years old at the time, and who clocked a distance in one day that most professional cyclists wouldn't complete in a week.
"This wasn’t just chasing a new record; it was chasing a legend. Attempting to bring the past into the present," Morton said.
"To me these kinds of records are fascinating. A pure test. To see how far and how fast we can go on a bike in one day."
Morton has built a cult following around his feats of ultra-endurance riding. Last year the 33-year-old set a new record for circumnavigating Australia by bike, completing a full circuit in 30 days, nine hours and 59 minutes. The previous record, which had been set in 2011 by David Alley, had been 37 days, 20 hours and 45 minutes.
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In 2019, he was the first to finish the GBDuro, a 2,000km ride spanning the entire length of the UK, from Land's End to John o' Groats, and in 2014 he rode 2,500km from Port Macquarie to Uluru in Australia.
Fleck - an endurance club rider who fit in training before and after work - covered the Auckland-Wellington distance in 19 hours 59 minutes, without a bike computer to monitor his speed or any of the modern technology available to Morton and riders today.
Unlike Fleck, who rode a steel bike and had to be informed of his time by his support van, Morton's ride had the benefit of modern equipment and the latest Rapha kit, and full updates from friend and fellow rider Hayden McCormick in his own support van.
In a video of his experience, Morton said he only stopped once, for less than a minute, and struggled especially in the final 200km with the fatigue and headwinds.
"That's a savage ride," an exhausted Morton said at the finish, as he was informed of his new record - and congratulated by Fleck himself.
