A Southland man is attempting to break a cycling world record for his 95th birthday next month.
Peter Grandiek, 94, will attempt to break a cycling distance record for the 95-100 year age group on his 95th birthday in October.
To do this, he would need to do 21.5km in an hour.
Grandiek told Checkpoint, he was already on schedule to do just that and was training twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays at the Southland Velodrome, along with spending a bit of time at the gym or on his at-home stationary bike on his days off.
He believed he would be able to achieve the record as he already cycled about 3km more than needed during his training.
Grandiek said he chose to take up cycling in 2007, when he was in his 70s, after finding running was becoming too hard on his joints.
If he gets the record he would need to be drug tested, which included sending down a team from the North Island, as he had been told there was no one in the South Island who could do it.
He would be covering the cost of their air travel.
When asked why he wanted to set a new record, Grandiek said it was “something to do”.
“Something to fill in time… I’m trying to keep as mobile as I could possibly be…”
His advice to others was: “Get up and do something… get going and move.”
Grandiek will turn 95 on 20 October and will attempt the world record at 6pm that evening at the Southland Velodrome.