TEENAGE cyclist Marcello Grossi became a record breaker, cycling more than the height of Mount Everest in a day.

The 16-year-old is believed to have become the youngest person to complete the feat in under 24 hours.

Known as Everesting, Marcello completed 129 repetitions of Milk Hill near Marlborough in 23hrs 54mins.

The teenager had achieved the 8,848m of height of Everest with time to spare so carried on eventually reaching 10,352 metres of elevation, covering 252 miles.

“I felt quite tired, but not as tired as you think you would be after cycling for that long,” he said afterwards. “But I was definitely very hungry.

“The first 90 repetitions were fine, I had my music in and just focused on that. By around 95 repetitions I found it quite hard when it dawned on me how much further I still had to go,” added Marcello, a member of cycling club the Swindon Wheelers.

Marcello didn’t train for the event, relying on his existing fitness.

Four hours in, he was joined by Neil Rutter who paced him and also completed the 8,848 metres needed for the challenge.

During the challenge Marcello burned 12,382 calories. He stopped every half hour to have a gel – essentially pure sugar - and at the end of every hour to eat some actual food, like flapjacks.

“Just to keep myself fuelled all the time and give myself a bit of a break,” said Marcello.

At around 10.30am the riders from Swindon Road Club and Swindon Wheelers joined them to provide additional moral support.

“It was my friends and family that kept me going,” said Marcello. “I’m very happy I did it.

"It’s one of those things that if I hadn’t done it now, it’s probably not something I would go back to complete in the future.”