‘Everesting’ the Rock on a bike for Macmillian Cancer Support

Lewis Goodlad will tomorrow take on the Rock of Gibraltar numerous times repeatedly until he reaches the equivalent of ascending and descending the height of Mount Everest, a staggering 8,500 meters.

In a remarkable display of endurance and determination, the triathlete, who is a member of the Royal Navy triathlon team, is gearing up for an extraordinary challenge that is set to test his physical and mental limits while raising funds for a Macmillian Cancer Support in honour of his mother who lost her battle to the disease when he was 20.

Mr Goodlad is on the Rock where he works as a Navy seamanship specialist.

And as a result his challenge will start and end at the dockyard with the Gibraltar Squadron.

From there he will cycle past the Rock hotel, up Engineer Road, past Jew’s Gate and all the way up to O’Hara’s battery. Descending from O’Hara’s to stay with the flow of traffic he will then cycle to the Top of the Rock and across to the Great Siege Tunnels, before down hilling it back to the naval base.

He expects each lap will take him on average 45 to 50 minutes, therefore he expects his challenge to be completed in under 24 hours. However, if it is not he pledges to keep on going until he has finished.

This is not just any cycling marathon; it's an Everest challenge and the Rock is renowned for its steep, winding roads and potholed terrain.

“Everest is quite a common thing among the cycling community now. But, in terms of what you would pick to do an Everest, the Rock is the polar opposite,” he said.

“You would want to have it about ten reps or even less with a nice long climb of consistent gradient, no tight turns, no potholes, no monkeys jumping out at you. The Rock is exactly what you do not want.”

“With every event I've done so far, I could honestly go in and tell you that I will finish it, it’s just case of time. Whereas this is, I can’t tell you I'm going to manage it. I think I will do it, but anything could happen.”

“It's so steep, the turns are so tight and the descent is exactly what you don't want as well.”

“I'm more nervous about the descent. Because I know I've done loads of training and I am fit but I think the failing point could very well be something on the bike breaking like the brakes failing completely because you're putting so much pressure through them, my grip strength and being able to hold the brakes for 15 minutes every hour especially when I get tired in the middle of the night,” he added.

The challenge will start at midday tomorrow and fellow cyclists are invited to join him on any or many of the reps they so wish to.

Mr Goodlad has previously raised £4,000 Macmillan Cancer Support via challenges such as an Ironman, but now he is aiming for £6,000 and so far he has raised nearly £2,300 of that thanks to donations from Seekers Property and Sovereign Gibraltar.

To support Mr Goodlad go to https://www.justgiving.com/page/lewis-goodlad-1690537683251

There are also donation boxes in both Omega pharmacy on 13 Cooperage Lane and 4 Eurotowers.