105 YEAR OLD SETS CYCLING RECORD! CONGRATS ROBERT MARCHAND.
Terry Macheras
Sales Manager at AWIN Mercedes-Benz Downtown. MULTIPLE CONSECUTIVE YEARS STAR DEALER AWARD WINNER
In a skin-tight yellow and violet jersey, the 105-year-old Frenchman set a world record in the 105-plus age category — created especially for the tireless veteran — by riding 22.547 kilometres in one hour. “I’m now waiting for a rival,” he said.
“I did not see the sign warning me I had 10 minutes left,” Marchand said after his effort. “Otherwise I would have gone faster, I would have posted a better time. I’m not tired. I thought my legs would hurt, but they don’t. My arms hurt, you have to hurt somewhere.” Fans chanted “Robert, Robert” during the last minutes of his ride. He then received a standing ovation once he completed the last of his 92 laps.
Marchand, a former firefighter who was born in 1911 in the northern town of Amiens, has lived through two World Wars. He led an eventful life that took him to Venezuela, where he worked as a truck driver near the end of the 1940s. He then moved to Canada and became a lumberjack for a while.
He finally took up his bike again when he was 68 years old and began a series of cycling feats. The diminutive Marchand — he is 1.52 metres (5-foot) tall and weighs 52 kilograms (115 pounds) — rode from Bordeaux to Paris, and Paris to Roubaix several times. He also cycled to Moscow from Paris in 1992 and set the record for someone over the age of 100 riding 100 kilometres.
“Setting goals for himself is part of his personality, he exercises daily goes to bed at 9pm and is up at 6am" says his coach and good friend Gerard Mistler .
Robert is a great example for all of us. Should you get the urge to take up the sport of cycling check out the special collection designed by ASSOS OF SWITZERLAND in close collaboration with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport? team's internal cycling club, the Works_Team. Their crew of world-championship winning engineers rely on cycling for physical and mental fitness, and our cutting-edge apparel helps them meet their goals.
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