May 12, 2003 – It has started. Planning and logistics are under way to set a record for a non-stop human powered land crossing of Canada from the Pacific to the Atlantic in ten days or less. Sam Whittingham, the fastest human being on the planet and owner of Forte Cycles on Gabriola Island is designing a trike especially for the event. Anna Lee Husband of Triketrails in Whitby, Ontario is sponsoring the record attack. The plan is to gather together a team of the strongest cyclists in the country and share riding of the Sam Whittingham-Triketrails vehicle 24 hours a day.

Cyclists from all the regions that the route traverses are encouraged to contact the people at the end of this release if they wish to be considered. The overall concept is that a team of about eight cyclists from a region will take turns spending an hour on the trike and then another team of eight in the next region reached will take over. In effect the crossing will be a series of extended sprints. “It is my hope that we can maintain an average of close to 45 kph – even allowing for the mountains and any adverse winds,” said Chris Beddows, one of the organizers.

It is expected that about 250 really strong cyclists will be required to pull this off. It would be better if volunteers to get their names in the record book are regular riders of recumbents or trikes as the muscle built by use of a traditional bike is not exactly the same as experienced by riders of the new style equipment. The teams of eight across the country should consider using this high visibility media event to gain funding for a local charity of their choice or contact Triketrails at www.triketrails.com for details of the charity of choice for this record.

Genuinely talented racers from across the country should send in their details and notification of interest to:

Chris Beddows Tel: (250) 390-2094 Fax: (250) 390-2218 e-mail: chrisbeddowscommunications@shaw.ca www.triketrails.com