Simon and Monika Newbound

Simon and Monika Newbound are long distance motorcyclists from the United Kingdom.

In May 2002, husband and wife Simon and Monika Newbound departed from Dublin, Ireland with the goal of riding two BMW motorcycles continuously until they had exceeded the existing Guinness World Record of 99,600 kilometres (61,900 mi).^[1]

On 25 October 2003, the Newbounds completed a 101,000-kilometre (63,000 mi) full circumnavigation of the Earth.^[2] Their route went eastward from Sligo, Ireland to St. John's, Newfoundland, via Norway, Moscow, Siberia, Tokyo and Toronto, Canada. During the Newbound's world record challenge they crossed 54 countries. They rode their BMW F650GS and R1150GS bikes above the Arctic Circle three times on three different continents. They visited every state and province in United States and Canada, which included crossing the North American continent six times. They rode their bikes through the Gobi, Sahara, Mojavi and Kavir deserts.^[3]

Neither had any experience of motorcycle mechanics and Monika had never undertaken a long distance trip before. They achieved their World Record without any backup teams or vehicles. During their travels around the world they have been welcomed and hosted by many kind, generous and some wellknown people.

In October 2005, Guinness World Records formally acknowledged that the Newbounds had not only broken the existing world record, but extended it by almost 84,000 km (52,200 mi) taking the new world record to 183,000 km (113,700 mi).^[4]

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