Janet Gallagher receives Iron Butt Certificate

Janet Gallagher admits to knowing next to nothing about iron butt challenges until she met and was inspired by a fellow Canadian MM at convention in Texas. "I quietly tucked information away in the back of my mind and started percolating a plan to attempt it someday when all the stars aligned." Janet thought the ideal time would be warm summer nights that have a lot of daylight, but it wasn't meant to be.

An opportunity for the challenge coincided with her sister's trip from northern Ontario in late September. To meet her sister meant a drive from New Brunswick to north of Thunder Bay, then back to New Brunswick almost immediately. "Sault Saint Marie was the launch point as it was 1800 km from Fredericton and I didn't want any dispute about making the 1600+km (1000 miles).  This gave me a cushion but also added a couple hundred km on each end," said Janet.

One of her main concerns was the threat of deer and moose while traveling through woods in Ontario, Quebec and NB for so many hours of darkness. The 1600 km milestone was met at 6:30 AM at Grand Falls, NB in 18.5 hours instead of the 24 hours allowed. Still not home, Janet continued to Fredericton, NB, logging 1852 km in exactly 21 hours. Congratulations to our Saddlesore 1600K recipient.