UMCA and Guinness Records
A few people have asked me how I feel about the American cyclist, Amanda Coker, beating Billie Fleming's mileage, so I thought I should share these feelings and thoughts. I think what Amanda is doing is amazing and she is an incredible rider. If she carries on racking up the miles for the rest of her year she will smash the overall (and men's) UMCA record held by Kurt Searvogel and surely set an unbeatable women's record in the process. This is truly astonishing and is a massive boost for women's long distance cycling. I can imagine that there are not many records where the women's beats that of the men's!
As for myself; I will carry on my record attempt for the Guinness record according to my original plan. This may be confusing for some, especially those who have not viewed my video diaries from the beginning of February when I had conversations with Guinness about the guidelines. I will attempt to summarise below.
- In October 2014 I contacted Guinness to find out whether or not I could make a record attempt and get it ratified by them. They confirmed I could and sent me guidelines that I must ride under.
- I was made aware of the UMCA ratifying the attempt also, but I decided to go with Guinness as that was the record I wanted and it appeared that I would not get a Guinness record if I went with the UMCA.
- The guidelines for the two organisations are different in a few significant ways: the Guinness guidelines do not allow drafting behind other riders, and they allow only one bike to be ridden for the entirety of the attempt. This attempt must be done on a standard, commercially available, bicycle and any modifications must be commercially available as well. The UMCA allow unlimited drafting and the attempt can be made on any bike, recumbents (non-faired) and tricycles included.
- I began my Guinness World Record attempt on 1 Jan 2016 with the impression that anyone who wanted to take on the same record as me would need to go through Guinness.
- Kurt Searvogel completed a year-long attempt at the beginning of January 2016 that was ratified by the UMCA.
- To my surprise, and against what I had been told by Guinness, Kurt's attempt with the UMCA was accepted by Guinness and he was given a Guinness World Record.
- Subsequently, I contacted Guinness to find out what this meant for my record and was told that they would change my guidelines to match that of the UMCA. This was a huge disappointment for me as I had spent in excess of a year planning my attempt with the Guinness guidelines in mind. Had I decided to go with UMCA I would have planned it very differently. I appealed with Guinness who had meetings on the subject and consequently decided that the only fair way was to have two categories - one for UMCA guidelines, and one for Guinness guidelines. This fundamentally means that there are two records.
- With regards to beating Billie Fleming's record - Billie's record was ratified by neither Guinness nor the UMCA, so it would be difficult to say that she set one or the other. As a result I will be celebrating when I pass her mileage but will consider my record broken when I pass the 50,000 kms that Guinness have set in order to secure their record.
Of course, it is up to each individual to decide how they see the records and I am in no way suggesting that the whole thing is not a bit of a mess. If, at some point, the records are merged, then I will be happy in the knowledge that I held the record for a few months, and that I achieved everything I set out to achieve - riding over 50,000 kms in a year and in the process inspiring and motivating others to take on their own challenges.
For me this attempt is so much more than the miles; it's an adventure that I may never experience again, and I will have stories of it to tell for years to come. Not only that but I've made some lifelong friends in the process!
