‘We cycled around the world!’
It was a wonderful moment when Cat Dixon and Raz Marsden cycled into Oxford; a Union Jack flag billowing in the wind above their heads as the crowds welcomed them back to the place they first pedalled off from 264 days before. In that time, these friends have cycled through 25 countries, five continents, extreme heat, monsoon, drought and endless punctures. Their amazing feat, completed recently before the coronavirus crisis, saw them cycle more than 18,000 miles and raising £37,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Oxfam.
They also look like they’ve broken the world record for the fastest people to ever circumnavigate the globe on a tandem – just subject to final confirmation from Guinness World Records.
It all started when Cat took up cycling later in life; having previously run competitively, she found it was taking too much of a toll on her body. Deciding to try cycling instead, she soon set herself more and more ambitious goals and eventually bumped into fellow cycling lover Raz at several public cycling events. “I had this nagging idea of wanting to cycle the world,” says Cat. “And then when I met Raz I thought, why don’t we do it together on a tandem and that’s what happened.”
From the start, both knew this was something they wanted to do for charity and Raz immediately suggested the Motor Neurone Disease Association, having worked as a nurse helping people affected by the
“I had this nagging idea of wanting to cycle the world... and thought, ‘why don’t we do it together on a tandem’”
condition for 17 years. They also chose to split the money raised with Oxfam because of the work the charity does supporting women into work and education.
After months of training, getting to grips with the unique challenge of riding a heavy and often dangerous tandem bike that makes hill climbing a special kind of nightmare, the pair were ready to set off. Along with themselves, they also packed up their bikes with all the clothes, camping equipment, food and first-aid supplies for several months that they had to carry throughout their round-the-world trip.
What followed was a pedal of around 80 miles each day every day, riding through some of the most incredible sights of the world, taking in everything
from quaint Parisian streets to bustling
Indian markets, sprawling American highways to the Australian bush.
“It was an amazing way to see the world and so different to how you’d see each country as a tourist,” says Cat. “We were often off the beaten track so got to see how the local people really lived.”
The local people in so many countries also really took Cat and Raz to their hearts, cheering them on from
the side of the streets, giving them food or a place to sleep for the night. “The trip definitely made me realise how inherently kind people are all around the world,” says Cat. “It was mind-blowing just how much people wanted to support us.”
While often they found a friendly local home, hostel or hotel to spend the night in, sometimes Raz and Cat were in such remote areas they camped instead, including spending one night on a deserted school bus in the Arizona desert. “That was an absolutely freezing night’s sleep,” Raz laughs.
During their cycle, there was the added challenge of the raging Australian bushfires that meant they spent much of their time in Oz battling to cycle through intense heat and suffocating smoke as well as challenging headwinds that made it even slower to get around.
In the hardest moments, though, the thing that kept Raz and Cat going were the messages of support they received from the 2,000 people following their journey on Facebook.
“We had many messages from people living with Motor Neurone Disease who, no matter how poorly they were, would write to cheer us on and that was just amazing and really motivated us to just get our heads down and grind the pedals,” says Raz.
In the hardest moments they were kept going by messages of support from all those following them on Facebook
She adds that many of the donations they received were also given in memory of people who had sadly passed away from Motor Neurone Disease. “That was very touching,” Raz adds.
The other thing that helped the friends get to the finish line was their endless laughter. “I don’t think I’ve ever spent every day with someone for such a long period of time but we laughed all the way, even when things were really tough,” says Raz.
And so it was fitting as the pair crossed the finish line they hugged and laughed together, celebrating their achievement that saw them break not only the world record for women, but even overtaking the men’s tandem record for circumnavigating the globe by a full two weeks.
“We feel so lucky and grateful to have completed our journey with such amazing support,” says Cat. “It’s been an epic journey but it’s been wonderful to do this together.”
■ If you’d like to show your support for Rachael and Cat, you can donate to their causes at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ tandemwow