17,753m: Tiago Ferreira finishes Double Everesting ride in 24 hours

With a winter’s worth of fitness and no racing to use it at, many elite athletes have been taking on challenges outside of racing, like Everesting or bike packing routes. For Tiago Ferreira, “just” climbing the equivalent elevation of Mount Everest didn’t seem enough of a challenge.

Ferreira set his sights higher. In 24-hours, the Portuguese cross country marathon specialist, and 2016 XCM world champion, climbed 17,753 metres. That’s just over double Everest’s elevation (8,848 m).

Starting at 10 AM on July 22, Ferreira rode through the night until 10 AM the following day. In total, he rode 83 laps of a 2.8 km course outside the town of São Pedro do Sul. Each lap added 241 vertical metres to his total elevation.

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More than just double Everesting, Ferreira hopes the ride will qualify as a world record. Confirmation of that title could take weeks, though, according to Red Bull Portugal.

In total, Ferreira rode 247.5 kilometers of rough, gravel roads during his attempt.

While the Portuguese rider may not be a household name in North America, he has an impressive palmares to back up his ride. In addition to his 2016 XC Marathon world championship title, he was XCM European champion in 2017 and again in 2019. He also represented Portugal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil in the shorter XCO event.

If you’re interested and have a bit of spare time, you can watch the final 10 hours of Ferreira’s ride below.

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Tiago Ferreira 24 Hr. Climb

More details on Ferreira’s ride, including a lap-by-lap breakdown, are available on his 24-Hour climb website.