Canadian-born ultra-cyclist Dr Sarah Ruggins has set a new world record for riding from the bottom to the top of Europe.
The John o’Groats to Land’s End and back record holder rode from Tarifa in southern Spain to Nordkapp in Norway in 13 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes.
The Cirencester resident beat the existing record, set by Brit Dr Ian Walker in 2019, by 3 days and 32 minutes.
Her 6,042km route crossed nine countries and included around 35,000m of climbing.
Ruggins said: “To me, this record proves that women can compete alongside men at the elite level – and I hope it’s a powerful statement to every woman who wants to try.”
On her way to the record for riding across Europe Ruggins also bagged the record for the furthest distance ridden by a woman in seven days.
She covered 3,364.08km in the allotted time, over 100km more than the previous mark of 3,258.38km set by Alexandra Meixner in 2021. This record is still subject to verification.
Setting off from Spain nearly two weeks ago, Ruggins has been riding for up to 22 hours each day and sleeping for only three. She has ridden through temperatures in excess of 35°C in Spain and below 0°C in the Arctic circle.
To fuel her ride Ruggins has had to consume around 11,000 calories a day.
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Ruggins only began cycling in 2023 after she spent 10 years recovering from a rare autoimmune condition that she was diagnosed with at the age of 15. It left her bedridden and in need of round the clock care.
She told Cycling Weekly last year: “All I remember was that the pain was so bad. People would ask me how I felt about not being able to run, and I didn’t care. I just cared about getting through the day. I couldn’t go to school. I couldn’t do anything. I remember just feeling fear, and feeling like I wanted to give up. I didn’t care about anything, and I thought it would never get better for me.”
Age 37, she set a John o’Groats to Land’s End and back (JOGLEJOG) in 2025 battling sleep deprivation and at one point had to be saved by a member of her support crew when she collapsed on her bike. “I’ve been told this – I don’t remember it,” she told CW. “I started swerving like a young child who’s just off their training wheels, and I was slowing down quite significantly.
She ended up knocking six hours and 39 minutes off the previous record with a time of 5 days, 11 hours and 14 minutes.
Ruggins carried those lessons into her cross-Europe ride. Speaking before she set off from Spain she said: “On a ride like this, the hard part is staying sharp when tired. 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.”
Ruggins’s European ride record was done in aid of World bicycle Relief, which provides bikes in communities where distance is a barrier to education, health care or work. You can donate to World Bicycle Relief online.
Ruggins at the finish in Nordkapp
(Image credit: James Busby Images)