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.
Her second walk was planned to be 1,250 half-miles (2,012 km total) in 1,000 half-hours in Exeter, October 1877, which would break a record of total) in 1,000 hours set by Captain Robert Barclay, but that had to be abandoned when a storm blew in. This did not deter Anderson and Gale, and they were able to accomplish that feat in Plymouth later that year. In addition to breaking the distance record by , by starting each at the beginning of the hour (rather than completing two consecutive miles as Barclay did) Anderson completed the event with much shorter rest periods. After this event Anderson was referred to in the press as a ‘Champion Lady Walker of the World’.
Anderson's first indoor event was a 28-hour walk again in Plymouth. However, the pollution from gas lamps and cigars gave Anderson problems breathing. After falling a number of times she collapsed unconscious after completing . Following this failure Anderson went to the press and claimed she would ‘never take on another event she would not finish’. She completed 1,344 quarter-miles in the same number of quarter-hours in Plymouth and every hour for 28 days in Boston before attempting to equal Gale's record of in 1,000 hours. Anderson started the event on 8 April 1878 and completed the event on 20 May 1878. Two days later, she got married for the second time to William Paley, a theatre man.
After completing three more walks during the summer of 1878, Anderson established herself as the dominant pedestrian in the UK. Therefore, on 13 October 1878, with the aim of making a name for herself in the US, Anderson, Paley, her manager Webb and her assistant Elizabeth Sparrow sailed in the steamship Ethiopia across the Atlantic.
Mozart Garden – US debut
Anderson's manager Webb wanted to launch her US debut (2,700 quarter-miles (1,086 km total) in 2,700 quarter-hours) in Glimore's Garden (which later became Madison Square Garden). However, William Kissam Vanderbilt, the venue's owner rejected their request claiming ‘The woman will never accomplish the feat and nor can any woman’. This led Webb to approach Mozart Garden, a smaller venue in Brooklyn which was refurbished for the event, reducing the seating from 2,000 to 800 to make way for a track which was surrounded by an railing and measured by Brooklyn's city surveyor to ensure accuracy. The venue was so small that the track was only in circumference, requiring Anderson to walk seven laps to complete each quarter of a mile (400 m). A ‘privacy tent’ was built for Anderson to use during her short rest periods containing a bed and a makeshift kitchen including a stove. Walking 2,700 quarter-miles in so many quarter-hours was an accomplishment never attempted by any person before in the US, requiring an ability to endure severe sleep deprivation, leading the champion US pedestrian Daniel O'Leary to claim ‘he would not attempt it’.