Meaghan Hackinen is officially the fastest woman to complete the Tour Divide by bicycle. The 41-year-old Kelowna, BC-based rider finished minutes ago in a time of 14 days, 9 hours, and change, besting her own record-breaking finish of 15 days, 23 hours, set in 2024, by more than a day and a half. She also topped the women’s Individual Time Trial marker previously set by Austin Killips by more than 12 hours. Her finish time is based on public tracking data available on TrackLeaders.
Hackinen started the race strong and found herself sitting in 10th place overall at the end of the first day. Unseasonably early snowmelt along the Koko Claims section, along with excellent weather the next couple of days, allowed her to keep a blistering pace early in the race. Overall, Tour Divide riders faced drier conditions than usual, with less snow and mud to slow them down.
A post on Hackinen’s Instagram page from the third day notes that this year, Hackinen focused on decreasing her stoppage time throughout the race in order to push the pace. On day three, she was stopped for a total of just 35 minutes.
By day 12, it seemed the race was taking its toll with Hackinen noting extremely hot weather conditions in New Mexico. The next day, a video clip shows steady rain. Hackinen kept her Instagram followers posted on her progress each day, sharing brief audio diaries, photos, and short video clips. Now that she’s finished, it’s definitely worth going back and checking them out if you weren’t following along.
Hackinen is sponsored by Salsa and rode a Cutthroat drop-bar mountain bike set up with a suspension fork, Apidura bags, and Light Bicycle carbon wheels. She is also sponsored by 7mesh apparel.
In addition to her 2024 and 2026 Tour Divide wins, Hackinen is a two-time World 24 Hour Time Trial Champion and holds numerous mountain bike race course records. Last year, she became the first woman to finish all three races in the Mountain Race Series in a single calendar year.
In 2013, Mike Hall was the first person to finish Tour Divide in under 15 days, setting a record time of 14 days, 11 hours, and 55 minutes. Hackinen’s average speed of 7.8mph this year is even faster than Hall’s 2013 pace.
On Tuesday, Victor Bosoni set the men’s record for the Tour Divide, finishing in under 11 and a half days.
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