A Scots athlete who has just broken the women\u2019s record for cycling the North Coast 500 says the achievement hasn\u2019t sunk in yet.<\/p>\n
Caroline Livesey beat the previous fastest time by more than fours hours, and admitted she wanted to do more than just break the record.<\/p>\n
Caroline was riding two different bikes during the ride. Picture: Mark Livesey<\/p>\n
She began her record attempt<\/a> at 4am on Tuesday when she was aiming to beat the 36 hours, 39 minutes and 7 seconds set by Christina Mackenzie in 2022.<\/p>\n Her husband Mark posted on social media that it was an \u201cemotional rollercoaster\u201d as Caroline smashed the time, completing the 516-mile route in 32 hours and 21 minutes.<\/p>\n The time is provisional until it is ratified by Guinness World Records and the World Ultra Cycling Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking on Thursday morning from Inverness, Caroline said: \u201cI\u2019m delighted, it\u2019s been such a huge project for us for six months to get ready and prepared for it and I\u2019m just really happy that it all went to plan and it came off in the end.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got 20 years of endurance sports experience so it\u2019s not something I\u2019m new to. I\u2019ve done a few other very demanding endurance cycling events but I dedicated six months to specifically training for this.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to not just break the record but do it as fast as I was capable of, so even when my crew were telling me \u2018you\u2019re way ahead of record pace, you can slow down\u2019 I was like, no, I\u2019m not here just to break the record, I want to complete this as quickly as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Livesey, from East Lothian, was supported by a small crew for safety, logistics and officiating, including Mark who was documenting the ride.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cI never once doubted Caroline could not do this. I know her too well. She\u2019s stubborn, relentlessly detailed to the point of madness, but most of all, she simply loves riding her bike.<\/p>\n \u201cWatching Caroline take on something this brutally difficult was an emotional rollercoaster. Not only did I have to watch my wife suffer for hour after hour, I also had to document every part of it along the way.<\/p>\n \u201cThe time itself doesn\u2019t surprise me. Deep down, I always believed she had a 32-hour ride in her.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat she has achieved out there is hard to put into words. The toughness, composure, determination and sheer love for the challenge was incredible to witness.\u201d<\/p>\n Livesey had two bikes on the route which she was riding in full for the first time. She finished at Inverness Castle on Wednesday morning in the pouring rain.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of moving parts, so for everything to really go perfectly, other than the rain, it was amazing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of compressed into quite a blur for me, I know some of it quite well but other bits I\u2019d never seen before. It\u2019s just unbelievable, it\u2019s such a beautiful route.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat drew me to it in the first place was just that \u2013 I wanted to do something that\u2019s going to inspire people to donate to the charity and that other people will get inspired by, and also is Scottish because it\u2019s where I\u2019m from and it\u2019s what I love.\u201d<\/p>\n This was Livesey\u2019s first attempt at a world record ride.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s really sunk in yet,\u201d she admitted. \u201cI\u2019ve just spent the time since I finished in a bubble with the crew and I\u2019m only just switching on my email and my phone this morning.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were people at the finish and people clapping me as I came through, and it was just really lovely.\u201d<\/p>\nCaroline Livesey took more than four hours off the previous record. Picture: Mark Livesey<\/p>\n
Heading through Latheron on the NC500 record attempt. Picture: Mark Livesey<\/p>\n
‘It was quite a blur for me’: Caroline sped around the NC500 is just over 32 hours. Picture: Mark Livesey<\/p>\n