The cycling world was hugely impressed by Geraint Thomas’s brutal 36-hour Zwift ride in support of the NHS, but perhaps flying under the radar is the 12-year-old rider who matched the astonishing feat.
Mak Larkin, from Hastings in East Sussex, decided to match the Tour de France winner on his monster ride, spending 12 hours in the saddle every day for three days.
While the ride would have been daunting for any rider Mak, who races for Rotor Race Team, took it in his stride, raising thousands for charity in the process.
Proud mum Lynsey told Cycling Weekly: “Lockdown was really getting to Mak, being that he was so eager to race this season as it was his first year at national level road and mountain bike cross country.
“He saw Geraint’s 36-hour challenge and told us he wanted to do some of it with him for something to do and to support the NHS. He then told us a few hours later that he wanted to do the full challenge and wanted to raise some money himself.
“To be honest we were shocked - Mak doesn’t really enjoy turbo training and we didn’t think he would see it through, but we set him up a fundraising page with a £500 target.”
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Mak, who received support form Quench Cycles, set up his bedroom ready for the ride and set off pedalling with Thomas on Wednesday, April 15 and began posting on social media in the hopes of raising money for NHS Charities together, the same organisation Thomas was supporting.
Lynsey said: “Day 2 was the hardest for him, legs were aching and saddle sore had defiantly kicked in, we said to stop but he was adamant he wanted to see it through.
“He received amazing support from family and friends and then the messages from across the world came in - a guy from Australia was messaging and even set his alarm for 2.30am to see him finish!”
To add to his motivation, Mak began receiving messages of encouragement from cycling stars like Tom Pidcock, Cameron Mason, Ben Tulett, before Geraint Thomas then tweeted his support of Mak’s ride.
Mak managed around 740km during the ride, while Thomas himself rode around 1,200km.
The youngster also raised a huge sum for charity, absolutely smashing his initial £500 target by racking up £3,175 in donations (at the time of writing).
Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers. Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
