Professional mountain bike rider Sparky Moir Sears has broken the Strava QOM on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea – ‘the world’s tallest mountain’ - taking almost an hour off the previous record.
Moir Sears climbed the almost 90km ascent on Wednesday in six hours, 12 minutes and 51 seconds, at an average speed of 14.4km/h. The previous best time held by a woman was seven hours, eight minutes and 43 seconds, set in July last year.
Mauna Kea is considered the tallest mountain in the world from base to summit, with 60% of its height underwater. The volcano road begins at sea level and tops out at 4,214 metres altitude. It has a deceptive average gradient of 4.7%, due to a flat section in the middle, but averages 9% over the final 21km.
Writing about her achievement on Instagram, Moir Sears said setting the QOM on “arguably [the world’s] toughest climb” had been a “dream of mine” since she first rode it two years ago.
“I won’t say everything aligned but the clarity I felt in climbing that mountain and the beauty in realizing this dream was unmatched,” she said.
“Getting to the summit alone is an incredible feat, but to go almost an hour faster than the previous record holder and to crack top ten overall [including men's times] was icing on the cake.
“I have no doubt this time will be topped – I’m already brainstorming how to go sub-6 [hours] – but I’m proud of myself for setting the bar higher and for hopefully giving a hard enough carrot to chase for the next record holder that they feel those same shivers of anticipation I did when facing this mountain to climb.”
The mountain biker – who completed the feat on a road bike – was halted by a snowstorm when she first tackled the climb in 2023. She made another record attempt earlier this week, which also came to a premature end after hail and ice forced road closures.
In February last year, retired road pro Phil Gaimon took back his KOM on Mauna Kea with a time of four hours, 52 minus and 55 seconds. Gaimon had previously lost his crown to former US national champion Larry Warbasse, but reclaimed it by over six minutes.
Like Moir Sears, the 39-year-old was back record-hunting in Hawaii this week. He set the new fastest time on the 55km-long Haleakala climb, averaging 23km/h for two hours 23 minutes and 36 seconds. “What an amazing climb,” Gaimon wrote on Strava afterwards.
