# SHUSANAH PILLINGER: "I wast to be the 1st UK woman to finish RAAM"



## Big-foot (Dec 14, 2002)

*SHUSANAH PILLINGER: "I want to be the 1st UK woman to finish RAAM"*

Shusanah Pillinger: From 3 Miles to 3000 Miles









December 20, 2013 



Shusanah Pillinger will depart from Oceanside on June 10, 2014 with a goal of being the first British woman to finish the Race Across America within the official cut-off of 12 days, 21 hours. Compatriot Ann Wooldridge came painfully close in 2009 when the clock ran out as she was just over 120 miles from the finish.

Pillinger, as with many RAAM racers, came to UltraCycling by way of running and eventually, Triathlons, albeit in a roundabout fashion, as she explains on her webpage, “I learnt to swim as a kid, but…never really progressed beyond splashing around in the local pool and the odd length of backstroke for my school sports day. I have cycled regularly from an early age, but never professionally. I was a terrible runner, getting stitch consistently after about 3 minutes. At university I took up women's football (soccer to you ‘mericans. Editor). After about 10 years of playing for a team in London after university, I encountered triathlon by chance, supporting a friend in the sprint distance London Triathlon. From then I was hooked.”


“Since my first 5k (3 miles) run in 2005 and my first sprint distance triathlon in 2006, I have progressed steadily…I have completed numerous 10k races, 10 mile races, half marathons, Olympic and middle distance triathlons. I finished my first marathon in my first Ironman triathlon (not particularly fast, but it gave me the thirst to better it next time)! I applied 6 times in the London Marathon ballot before finally getting a place in 2012. But by then, my focus had turned to cycling - entering local sportives and Audax rides (up to 200km long), going on cycling holidays (across Morocco, Cuba and South Africa), riding from John O'Groats to Land's End, time trialing for my cycling club (Verulam CC) and completing the Mallorca 312. Swim training involved completing long open water swims and some more adventurous crossings (such as island hopping around Malta and the British Virgin Islands). Further Ironman distance triathlons followed, and in June 2013 I completed a double Ironman distance race at Enduroman UK, after ultra running practice of 50k, 30M and 50M. I became the GB National Ladies Ultratriathlon Champion.”

YUP, THAT’S AN ULTRACYCLIST: Who but an UltraCyclist would call riding 874 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End a “holiday”?

Quite the resume as it is. But there’s more; in June 2012, she raced “Ride24”, a UK 24 hour time trial in which she won the female solo category and was also 3rd overall, a result that qualified her for RAAM. In September of this year she rode in the Race Around Ireland. In this event racers must complete the 1350 miles in 132 hours or less—that is, in most years. This year under punishing rain and wind the organizers mercifully granted riders an additional 12 hours. Shu did her best, battling the conditions, the sleeplessness and fatigue as her crew did their best to keep her moving, nourished and supplied with dry clothing. But in the end she didn’t quite make the cut. She was however the leading woman at the time of her withdrawal. And despite the disappointment the first-hand experience gained by her and her crew under trying conditions will go a long way toward making them a cohesive team during RAAM 2014—which was one of the goals of her Race Around Ireland effort. A crew member summed it up well with this blog entry, “It is difficult to articulate the intensity of emotions generated by such a profoundly testing undertaking. I can only say that Shusanah did not fail. We bonded as a team. The good energy that sprang from the whole enterprise eclipsed the detail of whether she completed the course or not.”

FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY FOLLOW THIS LINK:Shusanah Pillinger: From 3 Miles to 3000 Miles


----------

