Alaska to Ushaia

Scottish cyclist Mark Beaumont, who smashed the world record for cycling round the world, is back on the road. His former geography teacher, Val Vannet, is urging colleagues once again to use his journey as a teaching resource.

Last year, the Fife-born sportsman circumnavigated the globe in 195 days, beating the previous record of 276 days. His latest challenge will see him cycle from the Arctic latitudes of North America to the sub-Antarctic tip of South America: 15,000 miles of pedal-pushing across 110 degrees of latitude.

It’s a shorter journey than his previous one of 18,000 miles around the world, but one that’s as much about altitude as it is about latitude.

Mrs Vannet, a deputy head at the High School of Dundee, says: “Mark is following the Cordilleran ranges of North and South America - The Alaska Range, the Rockies, the Sierra Madre and the Andes - and is regularly tackling climbs of Ben Nevis proportions. He began his journey through Alaska in June with a gruelling 20-day ascent of Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America. In December, when he reaches Argentina, he will tackle Aconcagua which, at over 6,000m, is the world’s highest mountain outside Asia.”

Mark’s journey ends next February in Ushuaia, in Patagonia.

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