93-year-old Bernie from Galanos House in England established himself early at the top, but suddenly faced a challenge from an Australian cyclist who had fallen behind due to logging issues in the final week of the competition.
Since Australia is in a different time zone, the Australian teams had already finished the year’s competition by the time daylight broke in England. This gave Bernie the advantage of knowing exactly how many kilometers he needed to ride to secure the championship.
With a total distance of 4,801.3 kilometers, it was just enough — making Bernie the first English world champion in the men’s category.
Triple World Champion
In the women’s category, it was once again a tight battle with England’s Ruth Varcoe at the top. The double world champion ramped up her sessions toward the end of the competition, keeping close to her nearest challenger from Norway, meter by meter.
In the final hours, she overtook her rival and clinched the championship by the slimmest of margins - just 18.7 kilometers!
Ruth Varcoe can now proudly call herself a triple world champion.