Family of ultra cyclist whose Auckland to Wellington cycling record was smashed by Lachlan Morton thanks Rapha for “owning up to the false narrative” surrounding former record holder

Lachlan Morton sent another record tumbling down with his cycling heroics in New Zealand over the weekend, however, a drama has ensued in the aftermath thanks to a Rapha video which failed to mention the late ultra-cyclist who held the Auckland to Wellington record before Morton and instead featured a different cyclist.

Completing the 648km ride from New Zealand’s biggest city to its capital in 18 hours and 26 minutes, the EF Education–EasyPost rider Morton, who recently set a monstrous new record for the Around Australia ride, completing the 14,210km lap around the island in 30 days and 10 hours and beating the previous record by over a week, broke the record previously held by Brian Lambert, who had set a time of 19 hours and 59 minutes all the way back in 1984.

However, Rapha’s video on Morton’s achievement, titled ‘Chapter 1: In One Day’, uploaded to the brand’s YouTube and other social media channels, instead featured a different rider — Brian Fleck, who in 1983 had bettered the time set by Lambert in '82, completing the ride in 20 hours, before the honour was recouped by Lambert in the following year.

 

 

 

 

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Following the absence of Lambert’s mention in Rapha’s video of the record-breaking event, his family had expressed their dismay at his name being left out. James, Brian Lambert’s son, commented on Rapha’s video: “I like the part where Fleck mentions the actual record is 19hrs 54 minutes but fails to mention that it wasn’t his time or his record.”

Rapha had apologised for the mistake in the comments under its Instagram video, but James went on to post on the social media site demanding that “the film should be taken down and any proceeds made through monetisation on platforms like YouTube be donated to the Parkinson’s Society of New Zealand in our father’s name”.

> Family of previous Auckland to Wellington record holder demands Rapha takes down documentary on Lachlan Morton's new mark for failing to mention late ultra cyclist

However now, James has thanked Rapha for the apology and is content with the video staying up since it’s not monetised. In an email sent by him to the London-based clothing company seen by road.cc, he wrote: “Thank you again for your apology and all of your subsequent actions. We completely understand the film staying up adding another chapter to the folklore of the history of the record.

“As stated by my brother Adrian in the original The Post article printed at the time of Lachlan's amazing run, we think our father would have been stoked it took a cyclist of Lachlan's calibre to take his record after 40 years.

“Thank you for letting us know this film is not monetised in any way at all.

“The team at Rapha have done well with owning up to the false narrative created by the film and sincerely think you deserve an apology yourselves from whoever misled you and the filmmaker along the way.”

James also told road.cc: “Stories about Brian Fleck claiming to be the record holder were always just murmurings within the New Zealand cycling circles over the years. The film staying up proves these rumours were correct and adds to the folklore.”

He had earlier spoken to BikeRadar and explained how Rapha’s video — which also coincided with the third anniversary of his father's death after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease — failed to recognise Lambert's achievement and focused on the time of Fleck instead. At the time of writing, other articles in the press about Morton's ride and the documentary published since Friday have omitted Lambert from their coverage.

> “The truck driver actually tried to kill me”: Lachlan Morton forced to “bail off the side of the road” as lorry driver “kept going directly at me” and “didn’t move his truck one inch” during monster ‘Lap of Australia’ effort

Meanwhile, James’ brother Adrian, told The Post: “He [Brian Lambert] always wanted somebody to give it a crack, so he’d be over the moon, I would imagine, that someone finally did it.

“We’re happy for Lachlan. It was just a matter of time, really, but it took 40-odd years, and this guy is a pretty top-level cyclist, so it’s good that someone of his calibre gave it a crack.”

“He was always open to the idea and encouraged people when he was alive... There might have been one or two attempts over the years, but I don’t think there’s been a serious attempt until this one.”