Honorary degree for Beaumont

ADVENTURER Mark Beaumont is to receive an honorary degree from Dundee University.

Capital-based Beaumont, who became famous after cycling around the world, is one of 11 “inspirational” figures who will receive honorary degrees at the university’s summer graduations later this month.

Beaumont held the record for cycling round the world, completing his 18,297 miles route on February 15, 2008, having taken 194 days and 17 hours.

He later cycled 13,080 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, to Ushuaia in southern Argentina in 268 days for a BBC television series.

A Dundee University spokesman said: “Mark Beaumont is a modern-day adventurer.

“His adventures around the world have helped raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity.

“He is also an ambassador for the Scottish Wildlife Trust and a founding trustee of the Active Earth Foundation.”

Earlier this year, he was part of a six-man team attempting to create a new record – rowing 3500 miles from Morocco to Barbados in less than 30 days – when their boat capsized in the mid-Atlantic.