Amanda Coker
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Personal information | |
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Born | 1992 North Carolina |
Team information | |
Current team | Team Twenty20 UCI Women's Professional/Development Team |
Discipline | Road Racing |
Rider type | Time Trial |
Major wins | |
UMCA and Guinness Book record for greatest distance cycled in a year, fastest person to cycle 100,000 miles, and the greatest distance cycled in a month |
Amanda Coker (born 1992, North Carolina) is an American ultra-cyclist and the current record holder of the World Endurance record for distance in a calendar year.
Career[]
Coker first began riding alongside her father, Ricky, as a teenager, and found success as a racer, placing sixth in the time trial at the junior national championships in 2010. She later enrolled at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado as part of a collegiate cycling programs.[1]
In 2011 Coker was hit by a distracted motorist, a crash that threw her 50 feet (15 m) and knocked her unconscious, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury.[1]
She resumed cycling in 2015 after recovering from brain and spinal injuries.[2]
On 15 May 2016 Coker started her ride to set a new distance record. Riding a course in Flatwoods Park in Tampa Bay she rode 237.19 mi (382 km) a day on average.
She beat Billie Fleming’s record for the greatest distance ridden by a woman with months to spare,[3] after 130 days of riding had managed 29,774 mi (47,917 km) – beating the 1938 record of 29,603.7 mi (47,643 km).[4]
In April 2017 she surpassed the previous record of 76,076 mi (122,432 km) set by .[2]
In May 2017 Coker set the new record of 86,573 miles (139,326 km),[3] beating the previous record by over 10,000 miles (16,093 km).[1] During the attempt, her longest ride in a single day was 302 mi (486 km), completed on the second to last day.[3]
After setting the new record, Coker continued cycling in an effort to ride over 100,000 miles. For 77 years that record was held by Tommy Godwin, who set off on January 1939 and eventually finished his ride after reaching the 100,000 mi (160,934 km) mark in May 1940, after 500 days of cycling.[3] On July 11, 2017, Coker reached 100,000 mi (160,934 km), after 423 straight days of cycling.[5]
References[]
- ^ a b c Ian Dille (14 May 2017). "Is Amanda Coker For Real?". Bicycling. Rodale Inc.
- ^ a b Simon MacMichael (15 April 2017). "Amanda Coker breaks Kurt Searvogel's Year record - with 40 days to spare". road.cc. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ a b c d Simon MacMichael (17 May 2017). "Amanda Coker ends epic year of riding with more than 86,000 miles – and is now aiming for 100,000". road.cc.
- ^ Jessica Strange (26 September 2016). "Amanda Coker Smashes Annual Mileage Record". Retrieved 6 June 2017.
- ^ "Coker still going?". Bike Forums.
- Paul Hoffman, "Officially amazing: Three-time Guinness record holder chats with Cycling Quarterly", South Florida Cycling Quarterly Fall 2017, pages 28–30.
- American female cyclists
- Ultra-distance cyclists
- Living people
- 1992 births
- Sportspeople from North Carolina
- 21st-century American women