Multi-Guinness World Record holder Eamonn Keaveney scooped up another accolade this week for the fastest crossing of Ireland — by unicycle.
The unicyclist tore across the Emerald Isle’s 300 miles in just 5 days, 5 hours and 23 minutes last year, but was only officially given the world record title this week.
“It took sweat and blood to achieve it, and it’s amazing to be able to say to myself that I actually managed to do it,” Keaveney said upon finally getting his name in the history books.
And the award was well deserved: Keaveney could not walk for two weeks after the excruciating journey thanks to a myriad of injuries he developed on the ride.
While he expected his bum to bear the worst of the pain, the unicyclist didn’t expect his left ankle to balloon to the size of a grapefruit at the end of the journey, making every turn of the pedal feel “like torture.”
“It was sometimes hard toward the end of the day to force myself up on to the unicycle for those last few miles,” he recalled.
Keaveney spent about 12 hours on the rigid seat every day, starting in Mizen Head, the southernmost point of Ireland, and finishing in Malin Head, the northernmost point.
There was no previous record to beat, but he had to finish in under six days to achieve it — a daunting task for someone who had never ridden a unicycle before.
Keaveney said he set his eyes on the prize after hearing about the untouched category, which he said “seemed like a perfect mix of daunting and ridiculous.”
He spent weeks learning to ride the one-wheeled vehicle and another few years strengthening his skills until traveling 62 miles in a day was a simple task.
The feat is the third Guinness World Record on Keaveney’s list — he completed the world’s longest barefoot journey of 1,292 miles in 2016, which he followed up two years later by climbing 10 mountains barefoot in 10 days, according to the record-keeping agency.
“It’s very important not to put yourself into a box and decide before you’ve tried something that you would never be able to do it,” said Keaveney.