Lachlan Morton finished the 849km off-road Colorado mountain trail route on Saturday morning, which he rode in support of the family of Team AMANI rider Sule Kangangi who tragically died at The Overland gravel race on 27th August.
Kangangi sadly passed away following an incident at the gravel race in Vermont following a crash on the final leg of the gravel race - which gave way to an outpouring of tributes to the Kenyan cyclist across social media.
The 33-year-old was the captain of Team AMANI – a non-profit organisation that promotes inclusivity in cycling and creates opportunities for riders based in Africa. They were undertaking a block of gravel racing in the USA including Leadville Trail 100 MTB, SBT GRVL and Gravel Worlds in Nebraska ahead of the tragic incident at The Overland.
Morton, who was personal friends with Kangangi, decided to contribute to various fundraising efforts by taking on the Colorado Trail in memory of the rider.
Morton rode a Cannondale Scalpel mountain bike bedecked in bike packing gear for the challenge, which takes in 849km from Denver to Durango at an average elevation of 3,140m.
Lachlan had ridden the trail once previously, in 2019. “It was everything I could do to finish it,” he said of the challenge. “I’ve thought about it at least every week since then, how much it kicked my butt.”
Announcing his finish on Instagram, team EF Education–EasyPost said, “His total time of 3 days 10 hours 15 minutes (unofficial) is the fastest recorded time on the venerable route.”
“For Lachy, the fast time was a byproduct of wanting to treat the effort as one ride. 70 hours of riding, around 12 hours of stopped time,” the team added.
Lachlan’s effort individually had raised $12,307.80 by the time of the team’s announcement, and contributes to overall donations totalling over $82,000.
EF Education–EasyPost is offering a sweepstake for those wishing to donate which will offer the opportunity to win a Cannondale bike alongside various pieces of team-sponsor kit.
For those wishing to contribute to Kangangi’s family but not enter the sweepstake, you can also donate directly to the GoFundMe page here.
