Thirteen Mayo cyclists to take on Mount Everest

CYCLING may be confined to the 5k rule but a group of 13 top riders are taking on the challenge of cycling up Mount Everest this Saturday evening (May 30).

The riders, who come from cycling clubs from all over Mayo, will attempt to ride the same amount of vertical metres as climbing Mount Everest using the online app Zwift connected to a direct drive turbo trainer to simulate the real thing virtually.

The Mayo Cycling League, with the help of the online app Zwift, stepped up and set up a weekly league consisting of eight rounds. Some evenings there were over 60 riders racing each other virtually.

A select group of hardened cyclists dreamed up a unique challenge for themselves – a virtual climb of Mount Everest from their own homes.

It sounds crazy but with a bit of planning and a lot of suffering the 13 Mayo riders will have raised a lot of funds for Croí, the heart and stroke charity, come next Saturday.

This unique challenge will take 14 hours of non-stop riders glued to a saddle in their own homes climbing away for hours looking at their laptop screens. It's nine times times up and down Alpe du Zwift.

The riders involved include the following: Belmullet CC, lan Concannon; Annagh Wheelers, Darragh Delaney and Eoin Waldron; Westport Covey Wheelers, Aidan Gill, Keith Mulroy, Rob Flynn, Bryan Hyland, Tom Bourke and Aidan Campbell; Western Lakes CC, Colin Loughney, Janis Blinovs, Kieran Heneghan and Pádraig Marrey.

Anyone who would like to support them on their own bikes can simply join one of the participants virtually for one or more of the climbs to see what it's like.

Donations can be made to https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/vEveresting