Met Sally Toye, from Surrey, England, several years ago. We corresponded and met when she flew (she's a pilot for Virgin Airlines) into Miami and came up to visit. I'm a sports saddle distributor and after riding in one of my saddles, she wanted to buy one. (I'm curious to know if she brought her saddle to ride in the last two Tevis rides she's done.) I went to England and she put me up, let me ride her horse and took me sightseeing! Had a blast!
The first Tevis she completed was on her wedding trip to California (she arranged the date to coincide with the Tevis because she wanted to go and WATCH!) She met Potato Richardson because she was looking for him to discuss leasing a horse from him sometime in the future and riding a Tevis, which was always her dream. Well, it happened that Potato had a horse with no rider and asked her if she wanted to ride that Tevis. She's a brave one, and it was too much for her to turn down, so she said yes and finished! The truth of the matter, she'd only done 40 miles up to that point in her whole endurance career.
I only found out about it when she called me from Potato's cellular phone on that Sunday morning to tell me she had a Tevis buckle.
I saw by the photo of her on the Tevis page (the one that sends love to hubby, David) that this was her third ride. What a gal! That's the kind of Tevis spirit that transcends nationality and continents. Congratulations, Sally! David, you should be so proud!
And then Potato wins the whole thing! My love to him too!