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US law professor to attempt women's UCI Hour Record next month (+ video)

Molly Shaffer Van Houweling has already ridden further than 2003 benchmark - but not under UCI rules

A law professor from California will next month attempt to do what Dame Sarah Storey couldn’t manage earlier this year and break the women’s version of the UCI Hour Record. What’s more, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling has already gone further than the existing record – but in a ride that does not qualify under UCI rules.

Unlike Storey, who had her tilt at the record in London earlier this year, the 42-year-old Van Houweling will be attempting it at altitude at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico, scheduled for 12 September.

That’s the same country where, in 2013, Dutch rider Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel set the current benchmark of 46.065 kilometres in Mexico City.

Multiple Paralympic champion Storey, aged 36, is the only woman to have officially tried to break the record since the UCI changed the rules last year to allow up-to-date track bikes and equipment, riding 45.502km at the Lee Valley VeloPark in February.

– Dame Sarah Storey misses out on UCI Hour Record

Van Houweling had already gone further than that just days beforehand, putting in a distance of 45.637 kilometres at Aguascalientes, taking her within two laps of van Moorsel’s record.

However, that did not qualify as an attempt on the UCI Hour Record, because the American was not at the time enrolled in the athlete biological passport programme. Cyclists attempting the record need to have belonged to it for at least six months.

That ride, however, convinced the five-time amateur world champion, who last year set a new US record of 44.173 kilometres, that it was worth the effort and expense to sign up to it ahead of making an official attempt.

During her preparations for next month’s assault on van Moorsel’s record, she has actually ridden further than the Dutch woman did 12 years ago, riding her bike 46.088 kilometres at Aguascalientes during July.

While Storey is a full-time athlete who has won 11 Paralympic gold medals in swimming and cycling – she switched sports in 2005 – Van Houweling cycles in her spare time from her work as Professor of Law and Associate Dean at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I am delighted that another athlete will make an attempt on the women’s UCI Hour Record,” said UCI president Brian Cookson.

“Last December, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling broke the US Hour Record, which had stood for 24 years. It will be very exciting to see what she can achieve in her attempt at the World Record.”

Van Houweling said: “It is an honour and an immense challenge to take on the most epic record in all of cycling.

“I have had several opportunities to ride on the track in Aguascalientes, and I know that it is a fantastic facility.

“Mexico has a special place in the UCI Hour Record history, as the site of records by Eddy Merckx, Jeannie Longo, and Leontien van Moorsel. I hope my upcoming attempt will be part of that proud history,” she added.

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7 comments

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Martyn_K | 9 years ago
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Let's hope that the attempt is afforded the TV coverage that the other attempts were given. Somehow i doubt it.

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JimTurner2 replied to Martyn_K | 9 years ago
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There will be a real time webcast of the attempt. The scope of the coverage is yet to be determined. Here's a link to Molly's Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for a more professional webcast than was done for her July attempt that covered 46.088 km.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/76103082/livestream-of-msvhour?ref=...

I will be co-commentator for that live coverage.

Jim Turner

Avatar
Beaufort | 9 years ago
0 likes

I'd be more impressed if she were a bricklayer.

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brackley88 replied to Beaufort | 9 years ago
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Beaufort wrote:

I'd be more impressed if she were a bricklayer.

..and why would that be?

Avatar
kwi replied to brackley88 | 9 years ago
0 likes
brackley88 wrote:
Beaufort wrote:

I'd be more impressed if she were a bricklayer.

..and why would that be?

Maybe they fancy bricklayers............

Avatar
Kadenz replied to Beaufort | 9 years ago
0 likes

Maybe, but given what her job is, she almost certainly works more hours than your average brickie.

Avatar
birzzles | 9 years ago
0 likes

amazing to see a person with a proper job who looks like they might achieve this, harks back to the golden era of sport.

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