A MAN riding a penny farthing no-handed has smashed three world records.

Neil Laughton now holds the Guinness World Record for the greatest distance travelled in an hour (26 kilometres), the quickest 10km (23 minutes 23 seconds), and the fastest 100 metre sprint (29.6mph) – all no-handed on a penny farthing.

Neil began racing at the Preston Park velodrome in Brighton yesterday morning. After limbering up on the start line, he hopped aboard his pink penny farthing and began circling the track.

A Guinness World Records officiator was present along with a small cluster of devoted fans in the stands.

They watched as Neil, wearing pink socks, Lycra, and sunglasses, whizzed round the track 42 times to claim his first record.

Neil is one half of the Penny Farthing Club, which runs tours on the antiquated cycles. His colleague Mark Newman also secured a world record yesterday – for the greatest distance travelled in one hour riding a normal bicycle with one leg (20km 345m).

Afterwards, he said: "My dangling leg is totally numb, and my pedalling leg is absolutely dead".

While Neil was racing, Mark kept time with a whistle and a stopwatch.

"He's ahead of schedule," he said. “You’ve got to be careful on them though. There are no brakes, and you slow down by putting pressure on the back wheel. If you had a break on the front wheel, you’d go straight over the top.

"Imagine travelling at 30mph in a car – and then imagine doing it on a penny farthing. It's no easy feat."