On July 3 Stacey Duffy will set off from Springfield (east of Ipswich) for an attempt on the Women’s Around Australia record. The existing supported record is 92d6hr32m set by Lesa Ashford in 2023, Stacey is doing the ride unsupported and just aiming to complete the distance. She’s got “about 3 months” off work so she could well beat Ashford’s supported record as well as setting the first unsupported women’s record.
Under RRAA rules the minimum distance required is 14,200km and pass through at least 6 of Adelaide, Brisbane, Broome, Darwin, Esperance, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney. Stacey’s route includes all but Darwin (opting to go to Karumba in the Gulf of Carpentaria instead).
Her warmup a week ago was from Springfield to Bundaberg, 483km in 3 days
Updates will be on here and the RRAA facebook page.
Day 1, 175km in the bag. My daughter and I met her at the Redcliffe bridge where she was happy to have a break from pushing into a mild headwind. She’s going into it with a very relaxed attitude of “seeing how far I get and just enjoying the experience”. The plan is to stay at accommodation half the time and she has camping gear for more remote stretches.
I didn’t spot the model but her bike “Bluebird” is a Giant road bike with wide-ish tyres and fairly tall aerobars.
