Greatest distance on a penny farthing in one hour (paced) - all female
- Who
- Melissa Eisdell, Julie Woodward, Evi Dumon
- What
- 24.785 kilometre(s)
- Where
- United Kingdom (London)
- When
- 12 October 2024
The greatest distance on a penny farthing in one hour (paced, female) is 24.785 km (15.400 mi), achieved by Melissa Eisdell (UK), with Julie Woodward (UK) and Evi Dumon (Belgium), at the Herne Hill Velodrome in London, UK, on 12 October 2024.
This was the first time that this record had ever been attempted by an all-female team. Although this particular event was taking place as long ago as the 1880s (penny farthings were invented in 1871), at the time, women were not allowed to take part in such competitions. The trio broke the record as part of the Penny Farthing Extravaganza Weekend over the course of which 12 records were set. The previous day, Eisdell (an avid horsewoman) had also set the female non-paced one-hour distance record, covering 26.199 km (16.279 mi).
GWR was ably assisted by professional timekeepers Daniel Tzabar, Robert Ruszkowski and Lieze Thielemans.
The male paced one-hour distance record of 35.743 km (22.210 mi) was achieved by Chris Opie, with Mark Beaumont and James Lowsley-Williams (all UK) at the Herne Hill Velodrome on 10 October 2019. This broke a record of 35.542 km (22.085 mi) that had stood since 25 October 1886, set by William A Rowe (USA) along with three pacers at Hampden Park in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA.
Photo credit: Sally Bliss