A woman has set out to complete the fastest cycling journey from the top to the bottom of New Zealand and raise awareness about bowel cancer along the way.
After losing a good friend to bowel cancer last year, Joanna Sharpe decided to take spread the message for Kiwis to get checked regularly.
“It’s our second largest cancer killer, yet in most cases a terminal diagnosis is unnecessary if it’s caught early enough”.
“Hopefully if my journey encourages one person to try and find out a little bit more about it, then it’ll be worth it.”
Sharpe's 2,170-kilometre journey is labelled the "long white ride" by current record holder Craig Harper who completed the ride in an impressive four days, nine hours and 45 minutes back in 2017.
Now Sharpe is wanting to set a new record, saying no woman has ever successfully completed the ride.
It's a gruelling journey that's taking her to spend almost every waking moment on the bike from the time she set off on Monday morning.
"I eat on the bike; I drink on the bike and my goal is to only sleep about 45 minutes," Sharpe says.
"What an amazing way to learn about yourself and what you’ve really got when the going gets tough."
Despite her plans of breaking records, Sharpe says her main goal is to merely improve the awareness of bowel cancer.
With many forms of bowel cancer not deemed terminal if diagnosed early, Sharpe's wanting more people to know how th spot the early signs associated with the disease.
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