At 3.30pm on a cold, windswept afternoon, a tired, but unbowed, 86-year-old Whitehaven cyclist Gerard McCarten conquered a mammoth challenge.
He was looking to go out of this world and climb an unrelenting 8% gradient to reach the height of 23,000 metres – the equivalent height of the tallest mountain in our solar system.
That mountain, an extinct ‘shield’ volcano on Mars called Olympus Mons, is more than twice the height of Mount Everest (8,808 metres). The base of the volcano stretches 575km and was surveyed by NASA’s Mariner 9 space probe in 1971.
By a remarkable coincidence the average gradient of Olympus Mons is calculated to be 8%. The chosen circuit on Balmoral Road, which passes Gerard’s home, has a base of 70 metres and a height gain of 5.875 metres per circuit, giving an average gradient of 8%. The length of the circuit is 168 metres.
Gerard began his challenge on October 1 in memory of his wife Margaret, who died in October 2023 due to a little-known lung condition, bronchiectasis, and also memory of his daughter Lesley Anne, who died in August this year from breast cancer.
The aim of the challenge was to raise funds for West Cumbria Society for the Blind and for Hospice at Home West Cumbria.
Through good days of sunshine and the bad days of rain, wind and freezing temperatures Gerard ploughed on day after day.
When Storm Amy came barrelling through Gerard swapped bikes, from his road bike to his grandson’s bike with lower gears to help continue his battle towards the summit.
However, it turned out to be an ill-advised move. Gerard ended the session chilled and exhausted and lost two days of riding recovering. He had covered 552 metres (1,811ft) in height gained during Storm Amy but the lost days put him behind schedule.
Perhaps tiredness played a part but several days later, after his restart, an innocuous fall from his bike caused injury to his face, leg and arm that needed medical treatment and another two days off the bike to recuperate.
The fall was a big blow to his pride but fortunately the fall had no effect on his riding. The summit of Olympus Mons was reached on November 24 after 54 days – 40 days riding and 14 rest days.
A total of 3,915 laps of the Balmoral Road circuit were completed and 658km were covered during the endeavour.
An average per day of the number of circuits covered was 98, giving an average daily height gain of 576m (1,889ft).
To date, £905 has been raised via www.justgiving/crowdfunding/gerard-mccarten-out-of-this-world and donations from family and friends.
