Last night, 27-year-old Ana Jager became the second woman to finish the 2024 Tour Divide. Learn more about her ride and find photos here, including a short recap from Ana’s friend Alexandera Houchin, who was following the race closely…

Feature photo by Eddie Clark
Ana Jager of Anchorage, Alaska, has had an impressive last few years of bikepacking. In 2022 alone, Ana took first place at both the 300- and 800-mile Arizona Trail Race, was the fastest woman to complete the Tour Divide, and took second place at the Colorado Trail Race. That also made her the second woman ever to complete the Triple Crown Challenge in a single calendar year (Tour Divide, Colorado Trail, and Arizona Trail Race). Earlier this year, she toured the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail in Alaska solo and self-supported, and while she wasn’t participating in the official event, she maintained a pace that was in step with the fastest ITI racers. This spring, she joined the Revelate Designs ambassador team, which seems fitting for an Alaskan ultra-endurance athlete.

2022 was Ana’s first go at the Tour Divide, and she finished first in the women’s category with a time of 19 days and 54 minutes (19:00:54). We had a feeling she’d be back, and this year she had a goal to finish in 17 days, or “as fast as her legs would allow,” according to Alexandera Houchin. Last night, she reached her goal by finishing the 2,700-mile Tour Divide in 16 days, 13 hours, 3 minutes (16d:13h:03m), shaving over two days off her 2022 time. For the first five days of the race, Ana stayed close to first-place woman Meaghan Hackinen, but Meaghan eventually took the lead and held on for the rest of her ride. Ana maintained a massive 600-mile lead over the rest of the women, including Marie-Soleil Blais, who’s currently sitting in third place in the women’s category.
A Beautiful Ride
Words by Alexandera Houchin
I started checking in on Ana early in the race as she was the first friend I exchanged voice memos with during a race effort in the Arizona Trail Race a couple years back. We shared messages, texts, and our audiobook account passwords. I was running, and she was biking and it made for a very intimate human connection (despite the fact she was working infinitely harder than the rest of us). She was met with her fair share of storms including snow on Lava Mountain, “a real bitch,” she said.
There was snow, cold, wind, and rain, as well as sweltering heat and protests from her body. There was also the tiny little pig medallion she got from a kind woman in Pinedale. There were some heroic efforts in which she caught up to Meaghan, the women’s race leader, particularly the one I saw at Brush Mountain Lodge. Ana popped out of the room we set Meaghan up in before we went to bed for the night. Meaghan helped her get situated before she left the lodge in the early morning hours. I thought Ana looked as beautiful as ever; she had try hard written all over her face. I don’t know if I find anything more beautiful than sheer exhaustion coupled with an unwavering drive.

Though there was a relatively constant gap between this year’s race winner and Ana, she never gave up. After all, anything can happen in these races and you have got to race all the way to the finish line. Ana has grown so much in the past two years of racing; from her Triple Crown Challenge effort in 2022 to her second completion of the extremely exhausting Tour Divide, I want to sincerely congratulate her on all she’s accomplished this year, and all the things she will go on to do. Howa!

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