what is a circumnavigation?

A circumnavigation of the world is often confused with traveling around the world. The difference between the two is a simple but important one. Both suggest traveling in one direction around the world to finish in the same point that you began. Travelling around the world however, does not mean that the circumference of the earth has been completely covered. If you were at the North Pole, for example, you could run around the world, traveling in the same direction and ending at the same place that you began, in less than a minute or two.

Guinness World Records have solved this problem by including the stipulation that two antipodal points must be crossed in a circumnavigation. This ensures that the world's circumference is covered in its entirety. Antipodes are two points directly opposite each other. The North and South pole are an antipodal pair.

The antipodes for Revolution Cycle's circumnavigation will be in Buenos Aires in Argentina and Shanghai in Eastern China. The two cities are on directly opposite sides of the globe- that means that if you started to dig a tunnel from Shanghai, through the centre of the earth, and kept on going through to the other side, you'd come out in down-town Buenos Aries.

In 1522 Ferdinand Magellan and his crew completed the first true circumnavigation of the globe under sail. They have since been followed by others, in planes, boats, cars and… on push bikes. A circumnavigation needs to fulfill the following criteria as laid down by "Guinness World Records". Revolution Cycle, the first Irish circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle, will be observed by Professor O Flanagan and Dr Linehan of the Geography Department at UCC.

Route Criteria

1 - Start and finish points must be the same location.

2 - The route must pass through two approximate antipodal points.

3 - The minimum distance ridden should be 28,970 km and the total distance traveled by the bicycle and rider should exceed an Equator’s length, i.e. more than 40,075 km.

4 - Cross the equator a minimum of two times.

5 - Cross all longitudes.

6 - The journey should be continuous and in one direction.

7 - Any considerable distance traveled opposite to the direction of the attempt must be discounted from any calculations of the overall distance traveled.

8 - A detailed photographic record of landmarks, boundary signs, etc., en route should be kept.

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