Strava stats reveal effort behind rider's 450km, 25-hour Box Hill 'trenching' challenge

The ride included 91 descents of Box Hill to represent the 91 men that die by suicide every week

An endurance cyclist has completed an incredibly impressive 'trenching' challenge, which included 451.5km of ascents and descents of the famous Surrey climb of Box Hill.

Trenching, much like Everesting, is yet another challenge where you attempt to equal the altitude of a famous natural landmark.

Everesting is where you equal the altitude of the world's highest peak at 8,848 metres, while trenching is actually a harder challenge, based around the world's lowest point, Mariana's Trench in the Pacific Ocean at 11,034 metres deep.

6-59-38 is the world record for Everesting, with the trenching record not really an official timing as of yet, but Hall managed it in 25-23-53 of moving time, descending Box Hill 91 times.

Hall took on the challenge on the weekend of November 28, starting at 6am on Saturday and riding for more than a full day, wrapping up on Sunday afternoon.

Hall's effort was split into two parts on Strava, but it shows he averaged over 150 watts on his amazing ride.

It wasn't the most obvious time of year to attempt this record with an average temperature of just six degrees, along with cloudy weather and low light, but that didn't stop him.

The ride was all for the yearly charity event of Movember, as Hall said on his website "Nearly half of British men (46 per cent) said no one asked how they’re coping during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Every day in the United Kingdom, approximately 13 men die by suicide each day in the UK. That’s 91 a week.

"In November, I’ll be shaving my face and growing a Mo for the month in support of the work that Movember out with helping with men’s mental health."

You can support his fundraising efforts here. 

Unsurprisingly, Hall says that he won't be heading back to the National Trust climb in a hurry.

"I’ll give a proper breakdown of everything over the next week but yeah I don’t fancy cycling on Box Hill for a while," he said.

In an additional fundraising drive, Hall has also put his Cervélo S3 up for raffle after he completed a 107 mile ride to celebrate the 107th Tour de France earlier in the year.

The stunning Cervélo S3 was designed and painted by Hall just days after finishing his exhausting challenge, and he is now raffling off the bike with proceeds going to charity.

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.