Rescue team hails record cycle success
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THRILLED mountain rescue volunteers in Wester Ross have heaped praise on a world-beating colleague after she became the fastest ever woman to cycle round the globe.
Jenny Graham took just 125 days to circumnavigate the world – completing her epic odyssey at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin last week, where she was met by a crowd of friends and family.
The 38-year-old – a Highland Council employ who is also a Torridon Mountain Rescue Team member – knocked almost three weeks off the previous women’s record of 144 days, which was set by Italy’s Paola Gianotti in 2014.
The 18,000-mile route took her across four continents and through 16 countries – Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Mongolia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium and Holland. She took four flights and a boat.
Asked why she had decided to do it, she said: "I just wondered if I could. I just set out to see how far I could go."
The furthest the cyclist had cycled was between Land’s End and John O’Groats.
She added: "I was doing more and more mountain bike races and finding that actually I was pretty good at staying up all night and riding my bike.
"Every time I did a longer distance I’d be like ‘Oh I wonder how much further I could go?’ And then things just fell into place."
Posting a congratulatory message on Facebook, the mountain rescue team said: "Congratulations to Torridon Mountain Rescue Team member Jenny Graham who has just taken the world record for fastest woman to cycle round the world! Very well done Jenny from all of us – what an incredible achievement!"
Their message sparked a flurry of supportive remarks from the public, who praised Ms Graham’s achievement.
Nicky Shields described the record as "utterly inspirational and puts going out for a day up a hill into perspective."
And Ann Mcbride said she was "in total awe" at the "incredible achievement".
Ms Graham hails from Inverness and works at The Bridge, an intensive support and vocational centre for young people, is a member of Cycling UK and part of the Adventure Syndicate.
She said that despite the cold weather and exhaustion, "every single day in the saddle just felt so right".
