407.7 MILES IN 24 HOURS! NEW WORLD RECORD!

August 21, 2016 (Pittsburgh, PA)

Mission accomplished! Though it's "unofficial", Attila Domos broke the old 24-hour handcycling distance world record by nearly 4 miles. The old record of 403.8 miles was set in 2009, in Sebring Florida, by Thomas Lang of Germany. That changed on August 20/21st of 2016, when 48-year old Hungarian-American Attila Domos of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania beat it by nearly 4 miles, on one of the tougher tracks in the world, under tough weather conditions. 

Domos battled high winds for the first 4 hour of his ride, where he was pacing at 19.4 mph, an impressive speed even for a bicycle in an ideal climate. Then... the rains set in. He took his first break at 100 miles, where he sat up and attempted to eat a slice of pizza. "It was very hard to eat, in that lying position. Not to mention that you're working your body the entire time. It's like trying to do stomach crunches, while eating. Not gonna happen!".

He hit the 100 mile mark nearly 10 miles ahead of schedule, which translates to about 45 minutes ahead of world record pace. But his next stop was much tougher. "I wanted to break every 100 miles, but that wasn't going to work in the long term. The longer I rode, the more breaks I needed", explained Domos. His second break was at 181 miles, where he was already getting delirious. 

"I started to question what I got myself into. I was questioning myself, and everything I thought about myself. A challenge like this isn't only physically ridiculous, but if you have any mental weaknesses at all, they will be exposed."

​Domos said that was around the time thoughts of quitting first popped into his head, but... he continued on, and on and on. Friends and spectators came and went, showed their support via the live facebook feeds, as Domos continued to conquer the 1/2 mile track's rugged hill side, lap after lap. "That hill is unforgiving. Doesn't look like much, but combined with the winds that hit you in the face at turn four, and then having to climb that hill... one of the most brutal things you'll ever do. It's like death by razor blades".

Then, around mile 280, Domos passed out and crashed his bike. "I was very lucky that the bike was OK, but I was ready to quit! I had nothing left. I was laying in the rain and mud, with a police officer shinning his flashlight into my face asking if I was OK, and my support team running to my aid as quickly as they could. I wanted nothing more to do with the track. I was finished" said Domos. "But... thanks to my awesome support team, they didn't let me. They gave me a rubdown, and convinced me to continue on." 

Even with that 15 to 20 minute break, Domos was still about 5 miles (about 20 minutes) ahead of world record pace, so he decided to continue. Then... the rain got harder and harder.

"My team placed down a bunch of glow sticks in the turns, but by around 4 am, they were getting pretty dim. Coupled with the rain and the oncoming headlights from Washington Blvd, I had an incredibly hard time seeing, as I raced down the straightaway between turns 2 and 3. I was hustling, but in a constant danger of another crash, due to very poor visibility" Domos explained. "And the night.... the dark... it went on forever! I thought it was never going to get light out."

Just when one would think that this guy has been tested enough, mother nature threw another challenge at him. At 7 am, a mini-monsoon rolled in, which killed Domos' speed. "I'm so glad I had build up a huge lead! Everything that could have gone against me, seemingly did. The only good thing was that at least the winds stopped. But the rain... it was coming down incredibly hard, and they were big drops... which not only made visibility nearly impossible, and killed my speed, but man... they hurt!"

The monsoon went on for nearly an hour, after which the track was still completely soaked for another few hours. But, at least it was finally daylight, and more and more supporters started showing up. "I loved seeing all of those people, my friends, rooting me on. My friends might never know how big of a part they played in my breaking the world record. They kept me going, with them showing up and supporting me in person, and even those who were chirping in their support on our live feeds. They resonated with me somehow. I know for a fact that without them and my support team, I would not have been able to do what I did, so... I owe a huge thank you to each and every one of them, from the bottom of my heart."

At no time did Domos ever trail. He had control of the world record from start to finish, and with about 15 minutes left, he hit the 404 mile mark to the loud cheers of his friends. By the time the clock ran out, Domos added 4 more miles, for a total of 407.7... an unofficial new world record!

"There's absolutely no question that this was the most brutal thing I've ever done in my entire life. On this track, under these conditions, I invite anyone in the world to come and attempt to beat what I did. You have no idea what you're in for. This isn't a nice flat track in Florida, with ideal temps... no... it was hot, it was humid, it was very windy, rainy.... the only thing we were lacking was snow!" said Domos while laughing.

ATHLETE

About a month after unofficially breaking the 24-hour handcycling world record, Attila got back to handcycling. His body took a serious beating from such a grueling task, so he needed the time to allow his body to heal. "You don't heal nearly as quickly at 48 as you do at 38 or 28. So... my body needed the rest". ﻿
On his first day back for a casual ride, Attila by chance met David Majcher, who was running sound for a film that happened to be shooting a scene at the track. The two exchanged information and later that evening on a phone call Attila told David about the unofficial world record. Dave had an idea. "What if you make another attempt at the world record, but this time an official one. I'll get a crew together and we'll make out of it. Would you be willing?"﻿
And that's how it started.﻿

OTHER MARATHONS AND RACES

THE CHASE TO BREAK THE RECORD OFFICIALLY!

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