Queenstown adventure activist Annie Ford, 34, unofficially claimed the Guinness World Record for the most downhill on a bike in 24 hours at Coronet Peak about noon today, when she completed her 101st lap, equating to 42,319 metres. Her previous world record, set on the mountain in 2022, was 100 laps in 19 hours, after which she pulled out due to dangerous conditions.
Determined to go for the full 24 hours this time, Ms Ford aimed to complete 120 laps, or 50,000m.
She achieved that at about 3.10pm.
Still with energy to burn, she kept going, ultimately clocking up 133 laps, or 55,727m by 6pm, celebrating with a ‘‘shoey’’, surrounded by supporters, many of whom completed laps with her, telling the Otago Daily Times she was ‘‘ecstatic’’.
‘‘[I’m] tired, happy, disbelieving of how well it went, overwhelmed with support.’’
‘‘We had really heavy fog, so with lights you just can’t see — it was like a white out,’’ she said after her record run.
‘‘So very slow laps at night, and there was a lot of similarity, so it became a bit grindy and monotonous.’’
But as dawn broke, Ms Ford found another gear, cheered on by a huge crowd of supporters, and made the most of the ‘‘hero dirt’’.
Her Santa Cruz bike was also tricked out with world-leading technology, including a highly- sensitive Sram braking system, which was much easier on her hands, extra-large rotors on the wheels, to help with heat dissipation and effectiveness, and a steering damper, which stabilised the bike and removed the ‘‘chatter’’ from the trail, reducing the feedback on her body.
Afterwards she said while her body held up incredibly well — ‘‘I do recommend going to the gym’’ — her forearms were ‘‘terrible’’.
‘‘They’re going to need a lot of tender love and care over the next few days, [they’re] very swollen.
‘‘I don’t have sore legs, or back, or neck or anything [but] the forearms got worked.’’
As part of her world record, Ms Ford also aimed to raise raise $50,000 for Te Tapu o Tāne’s ‘Project Tohu’, the largest indigenous reforestation project ever undertaken in the Whakatipu — as of this afternoon, she had raised just over $30,000.
