Is the Toughest Athlete in the World a Female Cyclist?
Sports Illustrated is convinced the toughest is Tiger Woods. I like Tiger, but I think the brave gal I read about this morning deserves consideration. No, not Jill Homer… she only did the short route of The Iditarod Trail invitational, last month. ;-D The long route is billed as “The World’s Longest Human Powered Winter Race,” and covers an area of over 1,100 miles in length. Kathi Hirzinger-Merchant became the first woman to complete the longer race last month. Hardly anyone in the Mainstream Media noticed. ;-D As Craig Medred, of the Anchorage Daily News writes: Iditarod and Yukon Quest champ Lance Mackey — SI’s No. 2 pick — can certainly make a better claim to true, physical, tough-athlete status than Tiger, though there’s no doubt that in any kind of human aerobic competition, Hirzinger-Merchant would hand Mackey his lunch. Lance had his dogs to help him. Hirzinger-Merchant had only hubby, Bill, who, though he biked north with her, wasn’t necessarily all that much help. Accordi
