Mark Beaumont to tackle NC500 this Saturday in bid to wrest cycle record from Durness native Robbie Mitchell

Long-distance cyclist Mark Beaumont is to make an attempt this weekend to break the record for cycling the North Coast 500 tourism route, set last year by a Durness native.

Beaumont first tackled NC500 in August 2015 and finished in a time of 37 hours, 56 minutes and 44 seconds.

But that record was broken in 2020 by Josh Quigley who competed the challenging route in 31 hours, 19 minutes and eight seconds.

And last year Robbie Mitchell, who was brought up in Durness but now lives in Duns, upped the stakes again by crossing the NC500 finishing line in amazing 29 hours, five minutes and 42 seconds.

The route starts and finishes at Inverness and runs in a clockwise direction.

And now Cycling Weekly magazine is reporting that Mark Beaumont (38) is to make an attempt to wrest the crown away from Mitchell this Saturday.

His attempt is to be filmed by GCN+ for a a film documentary.

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