Tegan Phillips plans to set a record where none exists; to become the first and fastest woman to set the record and complete the Cairo to Cape Town route on a bicycle.
Cape Town, South Africa (18 May 2022) – Tegan Phillips loves to cycle, so much so that she uses her love of cycling to empower other women and uplift women in poorer communities. Her love of cycling is taking her on an adventure that will set a world record and see the South African flag fly high. Tegan plans to become the fastest woman to cycle from Cairo to Cape Town.
Tegan started her love of cycling most comically; she entered a competition by submitting a comic and won an adventure bicycle. The win was such a life-changing one that she used the bike to cycle through Spain and drew cartoons about her experience.
At the time, Tegan was studying to be a lawyer, but it became evident that her calling was cycling and comics. Over time, she was able to turn her love of both into a sustainable income, and she has not looked back!
Tegan loves adventure cycling and took an 11,000km bike trip through Africa with her family and completed a 10 Iron Man triathlon around New Zealand. This next adventure is the most important one yet!
“I am passionate about cycling but I am mostly passionate about women’s cycling, and I want to set this women’s record because I truly believe it just needs to exist.”
The Cairo to Cape Town route is a famous one and has been completed many times by all means of travel. However, it has never been done by a woman on a bicycle for a World Record attempt. When Tegan realised that, she set her heart on setting the record and becoming the first woman to complete the journey.
She started training for the massive cycle which will take her through eight countries and over 10,600km. Tegan starts this incredible adventure on the 16th of October 2022. She is riding solo but will have a support team driving along the way to ensure she has access to medical support, mechanical support and more.
“Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa. I’ll mostly follow the established route that the record-chasers before me have used.”
To make sure she is ready, Tegan has already done a few incredible practice trips, including a ride from Cape Town to Namibia and back, in just 5 days.
Setting this world record is part of a bigger picture though, and Tegan hopes the journey will inspire other women to take part. Along the way, she and her team will be raising funds to purchase 100 bicycles for women in Khayelitsha. Khaltsha Cycles will use these bicycles to empower women within the community.
“One of the best ways to empower a girl or woman is to give them a bicycle. It’s mobility, confidence, health and freedom all rolled into two wheels and a metal frame.”
You will be able to follow her journey via Instagram and her website. If you would like to support Tegan on her journey to becoming a Guinness World Record holder, you can donate towards her MatchKit.co crowdfund here.
We will keep you up-to-date about her achievement as soon as we get the news!
by 