Only a year ago Dr Sarah Ruggins was recovering from the gruelling experience of setting a new John o' Groats to Land's End and back record. But it didn't take the Canadian-born ultra-cyclist long to dream up a new challenge that would take her even further. This time, she will be riding south to north across Continental Europe – and her ride begins tomorrow (Friday 5 June).
Her 'One Way North' (OWN) record attempt, announced earlier this year, will take her from Tarifa in Spain – the most southerly point of mainland Europe – all the way up to Nordkapp at the top of Norway.
Cycling 22 hours a day and covering more than 6,000km (3,700 miles) Ruggins – now based in Gloucestershire in the UK – will ride through nine countries along the way: Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Norway.
“On a ride like this, the hard part is staying sharp when tired,” said Ruggins in a press-release. “The record will come down to thousands of small decisions, repeated hour after hour."
“It’s about focusing on the controllables that allow you to keep moving forward when the environment is not in your favour and your mind is telling you to quit. I’ve learned you can outwork most challenges as they arise if you adhere to your process and not your emotions.”
The record Ruggins will be aiming for currently stands at 16 days, 20 hours and 59 minutes, set in 2019 Dr Ian Walker, a university psychology professor. Beating it will make her the fastest person of either gender to complete the ride – as is also the case with her John o' Groats to Land's End double ride.
On that occasion she beat both the previous women's and men's records to register a time of five days, 11hrs, 15min.
Her cross-Europe OWN record attempt will also see Ruggins raising money for the World Bicycle Relief charity, which has been delivering bicycles to communities in Africa, Asia and South America for more than 20 years. Her target is £60,000 – enough to add 500 bicycles to the charity's recently celebrated milestone tally of one million.
“This is more than a record attempt,” Ruggins said. “I want to show what’s possible when life doesn’t go to plan. We can use what’s given to us to raise awareness around the power of a second chance.”
