Ada Anderson

Ada Anderson, née Nymand (10 February 1843 – ?) was a British athlete famous for her feats of pedestrianism in the latter half of the 19th century. She set various records for distance covered in a given time period, becoming known as ‘Champion Lady Walker of the World’. After becoming the dominant pedestrian in the United Kingdom, she participated in similar events in the United States to great acclaim. Early life Anderson's early life is not very well known. Her father Gustavas Nymand was reported to be a ‘Cockney Jew’, but the nationality of her mother was not known. She left home at 16 to join a theatre company and five years later married the man whose name she was most commonly known by. She claimed to have been a singer, clown, and theatre proprietress, with a childhood ambition to be famous by accomplishing something no one else could do. Having struggled to make a name for herself as an actress, Anderson and her husband became managers of a theatre in Cardiff. In 1877 her husband died, leaving Anderson on the brink of bankruptcy. Career in pedestrianism Anderson's interest in pedestrianism started in 1877 when she met British champion racewalker William Gale at an event in Cardiff. Unlike other working class pedestrians such as Emma Sharp who claimed to do no formal training, Anderson was trained by Gale who specialized both in pedestrianism and sleep deprivation. After training for six weeks with Gale, Anderson made her pedestrian debut in Newport, Wales in September 1877. She walked 1,000 half-miles (0.8 km, or 805 km total) in 1,000 half-hours and got no more than 20 minutes rest at one time during the entire three-week trek. There were several days of rain which required her to walk with an umbrella and a lamp but this did not prevent her from finishing.