Boy, 13, smashes Land's End to John O'Groats cycle

Hugo Boyce pedalled the 935 miles from south to north, accompanied by his dad in just nine days.

A Day One crash, torrential rain and punishing headwinds failed to knock the duo off track.

Dad Haydn and mum Mariko said they are “immensely proud” of the Neyland youngster’s achievement – not just for completing the whole course but also for his speedy cycling.

Flying the flag at Land's End. (Image: Haydn Boyce)

Haydn said: “To put this into perspective, we met several other riders along the way and at the finish who had taken between 12 and 17 days.

"The general feeling is that 12 to 14 days is a good time scale, so Hugo smashed that at nine days.

“As far as we can tell he is also the youngest to ever do it in such a short time. The closest we can find was a 12-year-old boy who did it in 22 days.

“You cannot officially record a child's sporting event until they are 16 so it's hard to be sure of other’s achievements.”

Riding across the old Severn Bridge. (Image: Haydn Boyce)

Milford Haven School pupil Hugo – who also enjoys football, running and ju-jitsu – has grown up in a sporting household with his parents taking him on their running training in a buggy when he was a baby.

Haydn, 51, a veteran of several Ironman triathlons, said: “It’s always good to have something to keep you motivated, and this Lands End to John O’Groats challenge was out there, so that’s why we did it.”

The Forth Bridge is in sight. (Image: Haydn Boyce)

Dad and son’s epic journey saw them cycling country roads from Cornwall, riding via Dartmoor, the Mendips, the old Severn Bridge, Ludlow to Manchester, the Pennines, the Grampians, Edinburgh and The Cairngorms to reach John O’Groats, which is the most distant point on the UK mainland from Lands End.

The ascent through Scotland. (Image: Haydn Boyce)

But they couldn’t have done the ride without Mariko aa support crew.

“I can’t emphasise what an important part of the operation she was,” praised Haydn.”We were obviously putting a lot of stress on our bodies and using about 6,000 calories a day, so we needed to quite specific about what sort of nutrition we took in, particularly for Hugo.

John O'Groats is in sight! (Image: Haydn Boyce)

“So every night before our hotel stops she’d be on the side of the road making our evening meal on a camping cooker. We couldn’t have done it without her.”

And every challenge has its rewards, with Mariko proudly presenting her husband and son with medals as they finally reached their John O’Groats destination.

Those medals were well-deserved! (Image: Haydn Boyce)