Bio

photo by Dan Campbell

Rebecca Rusch wasn’t thinking about world championships when she joined the Downers Grove North High School cross-country team. “I just wanted the free track suit,” recalls Rusch, who, 28 years later, finds herself among the ranks of the world’s elite endurance athletes. In July of 2009, Rusch won her third straight mountain biking 24-hour Solo World Championship.

It’s still hard to suppress a grin when people ask me what I do for a living, and I reply: “I am a professional athlete.”

Since donning those gray cotton sweats and Lycra shorts, Rusch has outfitted herself in the kit of numerous other disciplines: racking up ascents of big walls from Yosemite to Zion, paddling on the world-famous Offshore Canoe Club’s women’s outrigger team in the brutal Molokai crossing and winning adventure races around the world.

When not training in one of the five mountain ranges surrounding her hometown of Ketchum, Idaho, the 41-year-old known as the “Queen of Pain” can be found chasing adrenaline from Tibet to New Zealand to Kyrgyzstan, constantly adding titles to her impressive and extensive resume.

In addition to those three 24-hour solo mountain bike World Champion rainbow jerseys, Rusch is a three-time national champion in 24-hour team mountain biking. She’s won Idaho’s Short Track state championship (twice), and its Cyclocross state title. An accomplished nordic skier, she’s won the Masters Cross Country Skiing World Championship, in addition to taking the top prize at Raid Gauloises Adventure Racing World Championships. And although that’s just cross-section of her palmares, it’s easy to see why Rusch has been profiled by Sports Illustrated, Outside Magazine and Adventure Sport Magazine.

Talking about age draws a laugh as she gestures at her surroundings. “People around here are all 10 years younger than they actually are. And I don’t mean they just look it; they are actually 10 years younger,” she said. “Everyone’s out there constantly doing stuff, from biking to skiing to hiking. There’s a collective mentality that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.”

This mentality, along with what she calls “perfect terrain for training,” provides a home base for the typically itinerant Rusch. She is part of the community; for more than two years she has been a stalwart volunteer emergency medical technician and firefighter for the Ketchum Fire Department, and a homeowner. On breaks from her race schedule, she works on her condominium, though the domestic idea continues to bemuse her; the last home she owned was a 1975 Ford Bronco.

Career Highlights

3-Time 24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike World Champion (2007, 2008, 2009)

2-Time Leadville 100 Winner and Womens Record Holder (2009, 2010)

24 Hour Team Mountain Bike National Champion (2008 and 2009)

Idaho Short Track State Champion (2008 and 2009)

Idaho Cyclocross State Champion (2009)

24 Hour Solo Mountain Bike National Champion (2006)

USA Cycling Ultra Endurance Series Winner (2006, 2007, 2009)

Masters Cross Country Skiing World Champion (2008)

24 Hour Orienteering National Champion (2006)

Raid Gauloises Adventure Racing World Championships, 1st (2003)

US Whitewater Rafting National Champion Team (2001 and 2002)