SINGAPORE - In honour of the nation's 55th birthday, cycling online community Togoparts.com organised the Singapore's 55th National Day Cycling Challenge 2020 to rally the community through sport.

So far, over 3,000 cyclists, including 28 national cyclists, have registered for the Aug 1-30 challenge, which is supported by Singapore Cycling Federation, GetActive! Singapore and Our Singapore Fund.

Registration is free and open till Aug 15.

Togoparts.com chief executive officer Evan Lee was pleased that the number of sign-ups has surpassed the initial goal of 1,500 participants.

He said: "It is heartening to see cycling enthusiasts and the community rallying together for the challenge.

"With 28 national cycling team members on board to inspire the rest, we hope to achieve the 550,000km ultimate goal at the end of the challenge in celebration of Singapore's 55th birthday."

A total of 180,865km has been covered since the challenge started.

As part of the challenge, there are 17 achievements to unlock, one of which was the Nation Builder achievement, which had 580 cyclists doing 55,000km in one and a half days.

Allan Yeo, 58, is one of the first participants to complete 550km in just under three days.

Yeo, who is currently top of the leaderboard, said: "The experience was a wonderful one as I set my mind to complete 550km within 55 hours as my National Day's wish for Singapore.

"Age is just a number and you never know what you can achieve."

National cyclist Darren Lim, who completed 204.5km in 8hr 19 min in a single ride as part of the challenge, said: "The longer the ride, the harder it feels. What keeps me going on the long rides are the friends around me and the aim to accomplish 200km.

"It wasn't easy but the satisfaction of achieving it ultimately makes me want to do it again."