Attempt on Saturday to break NC500 record for cycling

At 8am on Saturday, Gavin Dempster will attempt to break the now four year old record for cycling the North Coast 500.

Dempster will ride the arduous 516 mile route, with over 33,000 feet of climbing.

He is one of Scotland's strongest amateur road riders. Most recently he’s made a name for himself in the relatively new world of e-Racing. He was placed third in the British national e-Racing championship in 2019 and more recently won the Tour of the Gila – an iconic real world race that switched to the virtual world of e-Sports due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

It was out on the roads though that his cycling story began. He has previous experience of ultra distance events, notably in 2018 when he placed 5th in the TransAtlantic Way Race around Ireland, an experience he’ll draw upon heavily in both the preparation and execution of this record attempt.

Based in Inverness, Dempster is a founding member of Torvelo Racing, a men’s and women’s Scottish amateur racing club, joining when it was first established in 2019.

In August 2015, adventure cyclist Mark Beaumont established the solo record for the 516 mile route, completing it in 37 hours and 58 minutes. In May 2016 a team of seven women took on the route with three riding the full route continuously in 36 hours. On 18 June 2016, former pro cyclist and Commonwealth Games medallist James McCallum completed the ride in 31 hours 23 minutes

On Saturday will Gavin Dempster add his name to the special riders to have tamed this special route in record time?

A spokesman for the team said: "A lack of amateur sport due to covid-19 pandemic has been frustrating but the pandemic has had a much more significant and further reaching impact on many people in our communities. An easing of restrictions has allowed us to put this record attempt together but there is no easing for the charities and organisations that help those in our communities.

This is why we are using our new found freedom to ride as an opportunity to raise money for the Highland Hospice who continue to provide essential palliative care despite facing a significant funding gap following the cancellation of most of their fundraising. You can donate via our Just Giving page and find out more about Highland Hospice using the links below:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/torvelo-racing-nc500

https://highlandhospice.org/who-we-are

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