STUDENTS from Scotland's oldest university are attempting to break the world record for the fastest time to complete the gruelling Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina by bike.

Medical student Danny Beech and physics student Chris Lally, both from St Andrews University in Fife, will average more than 140 miles per day over the 14,000 mile journey.

The famous route follows the spine of the Rocky Mountains, through the tropical climate of Central America, across the lifeless Atacama desert and finally over the Andes towards Patagonia and on to the bottom of Argentina.

The pair, who head off at the end of July, are funding the world record attempt with a £6000 R&A International Travel Scholarship and a £5000 Alex Richardson Award.

The R&A International Scholarship encourages students to broaden their minds in new, challenging and imaginative environments by funding international travel for undergraduates or recent graduates.

The Alex Richardson Award was founded in 2009 in memory of St Andrews University student Alex Richardson, whose untimely death occurred midway through his junior honours year.

Danny said he and Chris hoped their venture would inspire others.

He said: "It's incredibly exciting to have been given this opportunity; we just can't wait to get to that start line in Prudhoe Bay up in Alaska.

"I think it's fantastic that the University is supporting our adventure and we just really hope we can make it to Argentina and set that world record.

"We hope that our adventure will inspire people to dream big. We hope to show that with enough passion and determination you can achieve anything you want to."

The entire length of the Pan-American Highway end-to-end is 30,000 miles, stretching from the far north of Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago off the southernmost tip of South America - although the original, official section which began construction in the 1920s only runs from Laredo in Mexico to Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Over subsequent decades, unofficial branches were added that now allow intrepid travels to journey the length of both continents.

In 2009, Scottish adventurer Mark Beaumont set a new world record for cycling solo on the Pan American Highway, when he cycled from Alaska to the southernmost point of Argentina in 126 days.