Westward Ho! woman smashes world record for cycling from Land’s End to John O’ Groats – and back!

A Westward Ho! triathlete has smashed a Guinness world record by becoming the fastest female to cycle solo from Land’s End to John O’ Groats – and back.

Louise Harris completed the epic pedalling marathon of 1,748 miles in July, in a time of 10 days and five hours, beating the record set in 2020 by 32 hours.

The 42-year-old has so far raised an incredible £20,433 for Galgos Del Sol, a charity that rescues and rehabilitates hunting dogs in Spain called Galgos, said to be one of the most abused breeds of dogs in the world.

Louise was supported in her journey by her own dogs, Chia and Peanut, and husband Glyn, who drove their campervan as a support vehicle, with all four sleeping and eating in it for the entire 10 days.

Surprisingly, despite being a triathlete Louise had never completed a cycle challenge before. She only began riding a bicycle at the age of 30 but now 12 years later runs a triathlon club and offers triathlon coaching for women through her business Mojo Tri Club.

The aim is to help women turn their triathlon dreams into reality and Louise runs week long triathlon camps in Westward Ho!

To hit her goal on her epic cycle, which set off on July 6, she knew she would have to cycle at least 200 miles a day if she wanted to break the record.

She said: “The highlights included getting to John O’ Groats in four days and 17 hours, much quicker than I thought I could do it, plus Scotland itself because I’ve never been there before.

“The support from Glyn was amazing - he did cooking, dog walking, shopping, driving nearly 200 miles a day, route planning, bike cleaning, navigation and all admin related to people messaging and wanting to meet up with me along the way.

“The support from everyone along the way was simply out of this world, I never expected it. I was thrilled to raise more than £20,000 for Galgos Del Sol and genuinely pleased to see how many more people now know about this very abused breed of dog in Spain, as a result of my challenge.”

She said the toughest parts of the challenge included entering Cornwall on the way back, in dark rainy conditions and cycling 230 miles into a headwind up a great many hills.

Louise’s own dog Peanut is a Galgos and she said as many as 100,000 of the dogs are killed in Spain every year, with many also abandoned.

The charity is planning to use the money raised to build a new recovery and quarantine unit in its rescue centre.

If you wish to donate to Louise’s total, please go to www.justgiving.com/page/lejogle2023.

You can find out more about Galgos Del Sol at https://galgosdelsol.org.