Pippa Handley from Edinburgh became the first woman to cross the finish line in this year's TransContinental Race when she reached Istanbul yesterday afternoon, 12 days 5 hours and 44 minutes after leaving London.
She was followed just under five hours later by Gaby Leveridge of Cookham, Berkshire, who has the unusual distinction of being the first woman to come second in the TransContinental as only one woman, Juliana Buhring, rode in 2013. Vasiliki Voutzali is currently 60km from the finish and expected to take third place sometime this afternoon.
Here's Handley looking tired but very pleased as she hands in her brevet card:
We have a Ladies Winner! Pippa Handley just handed her Brevet card in for the last time @brooksengland @PEdALEDjapan pic.twitter.com/dDBAhj4GO8
— The Transcontinental (@transconrace) August 21, 2014
Handley was the 14th rider to cross the finish line, a feat comparable to Buhring's 2013 9th place finish in a much smaller field. Final rider distances have not yet been announced (the SPOT tracker distances on the TransContinental site are far from definitive) but it looks like Handley's average speed was significantly higher thah Buhring's.
Leveridge led Handley at one stage of the race, after pulling ahead by taking a ferry across the Adriatic instead of taking an overland route. But that bit of tactical nous wasn't enough to beat Handley's sheer grit.
In one of those bits of bizareness that have typified the TransContinental, Handley completed the race with just one sock after the other was stolen by a dog. On her run into Istanbul she tweeted:
Turkish kid in petrol station asked me in perfect English 'why only one sock?'..i said a dog stole it. His answer'did he not need the pair?'
— Pippa Handley (@pipster_h) August 20, 2014
As of this morning a total of 23 riders have completed the TransContinental. Last year 20 of the 31 starters reached Istanbul.
Here's the finish list so far:
| 1 | Kristof Allegaert | 07:22:44 |
| 2 | Richard Dunnett | 09:08:05 |
| 3 | Josh Ibbett | 09:08:08 |
| 4 | Steffen Streich | 09:17:02 |
| 5 | Matthais Muller | 10:08:56 |
| 6 | Mark Collinson | 10:11:45 |
| 7 | Adrian O'Sullivan | 10:19:03 |
| 8 | Stephen Bailey | 11:16:02 |
| 9 | Gunther Desmedt | 11:19:06 |
| 10 | Samual Becuw | 11:22:51 |
| 11 | Robert Goldie | 11:23:28 |
| 12 | Ethan Stewart | 12:01:49 |
| 13 | Andrew Allday | 12:02:33 |
| 14 | Pippa Handley | 12:05:44 |
| 15 | Kim Raeymaekers | 12:07:37 |
| 16 | Gaby Leveridge | 12:10:39 |
| 17 | Chris Phillips | 12:10:40 |
| 18 | Ben Thompson | 12:11:02 |
| 19 | Michael Woolridge | 12:13:23 |
| 20 | Tom Stone | 12:16:18 |
| 21 | Rob Savin | 12:16:20 |
| 22 | Hans-Jurgen Schmitz-Rech | 12:18:55 |
| 23 | Massimillano Fancoli | 12:20:16 |




















5 thoughts on “Pippa Handley wins women’s TransContinental Race”
David King has finished as
David King has finished as well and I thought he was ahead of fellow Scot/Edinburgh resident Pippa.
David King has finished as
David King has finished as well and I thought he was ahead of fellow Scot/Edinburgh resident Pippa.
And Josh beat Richard by 35
And Josh beat Richard by 35 minutes. I believe Richard has also accepted a penalty of 9 or 12 hours for riding a forbidden road.
Congratulations to all but when 5 hours is ‘just’ behind it puts the race in perspective. 300km a day for 12 days to make top 20 is incredible.
Blackhound wrote: riding a
Sounds mysterious!
Awesome effort by all though. I’m a little bit jealous actually.
Great effort from both Pippa
Great effort from both Pippa and Gaby! Was fortunate enough to take part in this years race (#99) spent some time on the road with Gaby and Ben.
Amazing experience and epic adventure!
Hopefully I’ll be back next year and close out the final 500k without breaking down!