Australian ultra-cyclist Jack Thompson has added yet another world record to his collection after completing his latest ‘Munda Biddi Dreaming’ project in a new record time.
The Munda Biddi in western Australia is the longest continuous bike trail in the world. It runs from Mundaring to Albany and is a gruelling 1067 kilometres in length.
Thompson completed the trail to set a new world record and fastest known time of two days, 12 hours and 15 minutes. The previous record was set in 2020 and stood at two days, 17 hours and 22 minutes, although that was set when the route was 16 kilometres shorter at 1,051 kilometres.
As well as being forced to ride through the night in order to set the new record, Thompson also had to deal with what were reportedly record high heat-wave conditions in the region.
He also experienced further challenging weather conditions on the trail which forced him to walk long sections, particularly when encountering 60 kmph headwinds for the last 140 kilometres into Albany.
After a brief break, Thompson will then travel around the local area by car to deliver motivational talks to more than 5,000 students throughout schools in the south-west area of western Australia.
Thompson will work alongside Mitch Harvey from MBA Sports Coaching as well as digital mental health and wellbeing platform Oqea on his school visits to give presentations and take part in q and a sessions on his own experiences of managing and living with depression.
Thompson is a passionate advocate of mental health awareness and recently broke an Everesting world record to raise funds for various organisations working to help people going through a mental health crisis.
Part of that involved a visit to London last autumn. A short film documenting his year-long Everesting mission was released in June.
The 30 minute long film, titled ‘Rising Up’, shows the strength, resilience and the ability to overcome adversity that Thompson needed to call upon as he attempted to complete 52 Everests in 2022.
Speaking to Cycling Weekly prior to the film's release, Thompson said it perfectly encapsulated both the highs and lows of completing such a gargantuan challenge.
“It’s a really powerful piece,” Thompson said. “I hadn’t been back and watched it until last week when we decided to put it out. It was quite an emotional watch, looking back and realising what I’d done and the highs and lows that went with that.
“A year is a long time, and to condense that into a 30 minute film almost doesn’t do it justice, but at the same time it’s great and I’m proud of it because it’s my year in a nutshell.”
Earlier this year, Thompson completed another long-distance cycling challenge in Japan. He rode 520 kilometres from Osaka to Tokyo along the ‘Cannonball trail’.
