World-beating cyclist tours Around the World in 80 Days stage talk

Author, Broadcaster and Ultra-Endurance cyclist Mark Beaumont returns with a UK talk tour

Around the World in 80 Days is a story of extreme endurance and Mark's unwavering ambition to find his personal best, to push his limits and set down unbreakable World Records. In 2017, Mark set out to make the 80 Days Victorian fiction a two-wheeled reality, cycling from Paris to Paris via the world and both hemispheres, averaging a staggering 240 miles a day – smashing the previous World Record of 123 days. 

To give context to this mind-boggling feat of endurance, in 2008, Mark Beaumont cycled the world solo and unsupported, in 195-days, setting a new World Record - at the time many cyclists thought this couldn’t be broken. He then cycled the Americas, solo, at the more ‘leisurely’ pace of 257-days. He rowed the Arctic. He almost drowned after capsizing during an attempt at the mid-Atlantic rowing record. In 2015, Mark cycled across Africa, smashing the Cairo to Cape Town solo record, in 42-days. In 2017, Mark, the now award-winning, best-selling author and broadcaster turned his attention to cycling the world once again, smashing the record by cycling the 18,039-mile circumnavigation at an average of 240 miles per day, achieving his feat in just 78-days, 14 hours & 40 minutes. Now he returns to UK stages to tell his story, through his brand new ‘audience with…’ style lecture show, Around the World in 80 Days, touring to 17 theatres across England and Wales, presented by Speakers from the Edge and in association with ON, Vango, Leadership Challenges and Altura. 

"Truly inspiring, the sort of thing that makes you want to get off the couch, out of the house and on the road." - THE SCOTSMAN

In 2008, Mark became known as ‘The Man Who Cycled the World’ when he completed what was then an incredible record-breaking 18,000 mile circumnavigation cycle of the World, which he swiftly followed with a 13,000 mile cycle of the American Cordillera (the longest mountain range on the planet) – and summiting the continent’s two highest peaks - for the BBC One documentary, The Man Who Cycled the Americas. 

Mark went on to become part of the first crew to reach a certified polar position by rowing boat (the 1996 North Magnetic Pole), an achievement he documented for the BBC One’s Rowing the Arctic. In 2012, Mark joined the ‘Atlantic Odyssey’, an attempt at the mid-Atlantic World Record, an attempt in which lives were in real danger before rescue arrived when the boat capsized after 28-days. During 2013 and 2014 Mark led the BBC coverage of the Queen’s Baton Relay, the incredible nine-month journey around the Commonwealth in the build up to Glasgow 2014. In his attempt at cycling north to south across Africa, Mark again smashed the Cairo-to-Cape Town record, breaking the previous record by 18 days.

Mark’s stories are captivating tales of where life can lead if you have enough determination; a story of mental and physical endurance, as well as a fascinating insight into the world we live in. 

Around the World in 80 Days is touring 17 UK theatres in May 2019 - for further details, visit www.speakersfromtheedge.com

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Editors notes

Mark Beaumont - Born in 1983, Mark grew up on a farm in rural Perthshire and now lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Home-taught until secondary school, Mark had greater freedom than many children of his generation, with daily access to the outdoors instilling a sense of adventure in Mark from an early age. At just 12 years old Mark decided he wanted to cycle from John O'Groats to Lands End for the simple reason that he had read about the challenge in the local paper. His parents, with a better idea of how far 1000 miles was, suggested a smaller challenge first, which resulted in Mark cycling across Scotland in three days raising £2000 for charity. Aged 15 he went on to break the record for his age for completing the End to End solo.

Mark graduated Glasgow University with a degree in Economics and Politics from Glasgow University, and considerable student debt, but his outdoor ambitions pulled him in a totally different direction, leading to a two-year project to break the Guinness World Record for cycling around the world

A 3000 mile training cycle to attract profile resulted in chronic tendinitis and for the next eight months he was turned down by hundreds of potential sponsors. What others credit as determination and courage, Mark calls 'being stubborn' and he cycled out of Paris on August 5th 2007 just 14 months after graduating with the support of 15 sponsors. Ahead lay 18,000 miles, four continents and 20 countries to cycle in a target of 195 days.

Over the last decade Mark has travelled through and presented epic documentaries from well over 100 countries including into the Arctic, the high mountains and around the Commonwealth, presenting the BBC’s coverage in the build up to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Mark is the current Rector of The University of Dundee, where he also received an Honorary Doctorate in Laws. He is Honorary President for Scottish Student Sports as well as an active fundraiser and Patron for Orkidstudio, a grassroots humanitarian architecture organisation. 

At home Mark is married to Nicci, a teacher, and they have two daughter, Harriet and Willa and a dog called Monty.

Speakers from the Edge represent the finest motivational speakers from the world of adventure, exploration and endurance, who have, quite literally, pushed themselves to the edge. Our speakers comprise explorers, mountaineers, adventurers and extreme athletes, each of whom are driven, focused and motivated. They take on some of the most treacherous of journeys and challenges the planet has to offer. In short, they are precisely the kind of people to inspire others to achieve great things.