With an impressive 9000 miles behind him on his second-solo challenge to cycle the length of the American Cordillera, Mark had set fellow Scots the task of matching his mileage by 20th November. Live from the deserts of Northern Peru, he learned that Scotland had in fact out stripped him, cycling 21,079 miles and raising £4,946 raised for BBC Children in Need.

Mark has now been on the road for half a year. Setting out at the end of May, he has cycled from Anchorage in Alaska through Canada, the whole of North and Central America arriving in South America a couple of weeks ago. As part of this new 15 000 mile challenge, Mark also set his sights on climbing the two highest peaks on the American continent. Back in July, Mark climbed the 20,320 foot summit of Mt McKinley (Denail) in Alaska, a gruelling climb which took just under 3 weeks to complete.

Now Mark is racing through the Andes, aiming to reach Argentina in the New Year to climb the highest peak outside Asia, the 22,841 ft Aconcagua. After a difficult start in Ecuador, where Mark spent three days crawling up steep gravel roads at high altitude and then succumbed to a nasty bout of food poisoning, Mark is now in Peru, trying to build his strength back up as he continues to head south. While Mark has been pedaling away, Speakers from the Edge has been planning his first UK lecture tour. Mark will be appearing at 38 theatres around the UK next spring, sharing his adventures from both of his ultra-endurance expeditions. You can see dates and venues for Mark’s tour here. You can keep up with Mark on his dedicated BBC website or why not follow Mark on twitter?