Marie Claire Aquilina has become the first Maltese cyclist to complete the Everesting Challenge after lapping Ta’ Pinellu Hill in Mellieħa 69 times.

While many of us took the weekend to relax, Claire Aquilina was pacing up and down the intimidating hill, covering a distance of 290km with an elevation of 8,850 metres in an attempt to complete the challenge.

That’s the same height as Mount Everest which effectively means that Claire Aquilinia scaled the tallest mountain in the world with a bike.

She now becomes the first, and only, Maltese to have completed the daunting task but she wasn’t the only Maltese to attempt it this year.

She was joined by eight other cyclists, including Fabio Spiteri who organised the event, who set off with her on Saturday evening at 5.15pm.

As valiant as their efforts were, the eight other cyclists weren’t able to keep up with Claire Aquilina who finished the challenge on Sunday at noon for a total time of 14 hours.

“I’m bot comparing this to other sports but I’ll put this achievement close to winning a world cup final,” Spiteri said on Facebook.