Pics: Rory Hitchens

Just a couple of days since Ian Leitch smashed the South Downs Double record, Whyte’s Steve Heading is on the trail right now with his own attempt. Steve has a lot of history with the South Downs Way – with his brother Andy, he rode the slightly shorter Buriton-Eastbourne-Buriton double in 23 hours back in 1993.

We’re told that Steve’s not planning a record-breaking ride, with his goal simply to add his name to the exclusive group of sub-24hr SDD finishers. That said, he’s making brisk progress – he set off from Winchester at midnight and made the turn in Eastbourne at around 9.30am despite riding in pretty grim conditions.

And as if it isn’t enough of a lunatic endeavour, Steve’s committed to competing in a 12-hour enduro this weekend, too. So this must be that “tapering” thing that we read about in training articles, then.

Update We received word on Tuesday evening that Steve had completed his ride in 20:36:11, the third-fastest time on record despite those early wet conditions and an even windier return leg than that which Ian Leitch had to contend with. Steve’s now on his way back to Derbyshire with plans to bobby in a hedge when he gets tired…

You can look forward to plenty more South Downs Double action this year too, with a couple of new names hoping to get on to that sub-24hr list later in the summer…