Gender inequality in sport is an age old battle. A huge problem is that female athletes are not taken as seriously as their male counterparts. One issue being how women in sport are portrayed in the media and how this can affect their credibility. We googled "female cyclists" and the top results were lists of the "sexiest female cyclists" whereas the male lists were performance-related.
Anna McNuff
Anna McNuff is spinning the media's reports upside down. She has pushed boundaries and shown that women are just as able, and as bad-ass, as men in sport. This article is bound to make everyone reading grab your bikes and push out some miles!
McNuff is an endurance athlete, adventurer and mischief maker. Once upon a time she represented Great Britain at rowing, but after 'retiring' in her mid twenties, she began darting around the world on the hunt for new and exciting endurance challenges. Named by The Guardian as one of the top female adventurers of our time, Condé Nast Traveller also recently included her in a list of the 50 most influential travellers in the world.
In 2013 Anna cycled a beautiful Pink bicycle 11,000 miles through each and every state of the USA, from Alaska to Hawaii. Pedalling up to 130 miles a day for 6 months, solo and unsupported, she encountered blizzards, floods and temperatures as low at minus 15C.
In October 2016, Anna began a journey to cycle along the spine of the largest mountain range in the world: The Andes. By the time she returned to the UK in April 2017 she had pedalled through some of South America's most remote and inhospitable regions, and ascended over 100,000 metres on a bike – more than 11 times the height of Everest.
Much closer to home, she has also spent a month cycling across Europe directed entirely by social media, run the length of Hadrian's wall dressed as a Roman Soldier, and the length of the Jurassic Coast, dressed as a dinosaur. As you do.
Passionate about the positive impact that adventure and sport can have on the lives of youngsters, Anna uses her human-powered journeys as a platform to inspire and enable kids to get outside, and get exploring.
