If you are in London tomorrow, why not pop down to Buckingham Palace. Darren is there in the morning to receive his OBE.

Sam Tyler was hit by a car and ended up in 1973, Darren Kenny went the UCI Record AKA 'The Athletes Hours Record' route. The UCI Record forbids the use of many of the features that today's cyclists take for granted; tri-bars, solid wheels and aerodynamic hats. In there place are drop handlebars, spoked wheels and sausage hats. The bike is a machine that looks as if it was lifted straight from a photo of Eddy Merckx.

Originally the attempt, privately sponsored by BT, Space and Solutions of Christchurch, Dave Mellor Cycles, Halo Sports Management and Specialized Cycling Glasses, was scheduled to take place during the Beijing leg of the Track Cycling World Cup, but due to scheduling issues was moved to the Copenhagen leg. Originally due to start at 18:30 local time, the crash between Chris Hoy and Kévin Sireau delayed the start slightly to 19:00 local time. A small crowd stayed behind to cheer Darren on, he started slightly fast then settled into a steady pace. When the gun went at the end of the hour he had covered 40.516 kilometres, a new record.

Darren had always know it was going to be tough, with hardly any energry left to stand he collapsed onto Gary Brickley, his coach. A doctor came over to check on Darren and after some rest Darren came round enough to drink some water and to do a victory lap.

After the event Darren said: "That was seriously unpleasant but I am pleased with the distance. Originally we wanted to do the athletes record but first thought it better to get the other record first. With Team GB, it is all about the bike and all that so I wanted to go out there and do it without that excuse if you like. The bike was good and although I only got it from Terry (Dolan) last night, we got the position just right and it handled well, really smooth."

"Gary and I felt we needed something for me to focus on between Beijing and whenever and learn some new skills and looking back on it, it has been fun even though it doesn't feel very pleasant right now!"

Para-Cyclist Darren Kenny announced this week that he will be tackling the Para-Cycling Athletes Hour Record during the Copenhagen round of the Track World Cup on 14th February.

Darren, who is the current holder of the Absolute Hour Record at 41.817Km, is hoping to repeat the same feature as Chris Boardman and hold both records.

The attempt is being privately sponsored by Space and Solutions of Christchurch, Dave Mellor Cycles and Specialized Cycling Glasses.

Darren said: "The Danish organisers have been great, and I'm really grateful for the help and support I have been given for the attempt"

"While the effort required is pretty tough, the real difficulty is trying to stay that position. The arms, shoulders and neck take a real pounding; even riding in a straight line becomes a problem."