Alan Colville Team JMC

Mountain biker turned ultra-climber Alan Colville, 50, turned his attention to Everesting as lockdown took hold last year. Realising he had a talent for epic-duration climbing, he took it one step further and in September last year set a new world record for elevation gained in 48 hours.

Where I grew up in Tipperary, in Ireland, there was no grassroots cycling, so I came to it late. I didn’t start until 2007 [aged 36], while in New Zealand, when a friend put me on a mountain bike, threw me onto a descent, and I absolutely loved it. By 2010 I was finishing inside the top