She is believed to be the first woman to complete the Devizes to Westminster marathon canoe race, which she entered in 1971 as part of a mixed crew with Colin Dickens, then a fellow member of Cambridge University Canoe Club.
[1] Women were at that time barred from the event, so Sheila sent in her entry using her initials rather than her full forenames to disguise her gender.
[2] Sheila and her partner successfully completed the 125 mile course, but were subsequently disqualified as ineligible and did not appear in the official results.
[3] Although unofficial reports of their race time are contradictory, evidence suggests that they finished the event in just under 35 hours, including an overnight stop.
[3][4] Sheila went on to represent Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where she was eliminated in the semifinals of the K-1 500 m event.