Kim Sonier

Anne-Caroline Chausson (born 8 October 1977 in Dijon) is a French professional cyclist who competes in bicycle enduro, bicycle motocross (BMX), downhill time trial and cross-country mass start, dual, and four-crossmountain bicycle racing. She is best known for having won thirteen Union Cycliste Internationale senior mountain bike world championship rainbow jerseys, fourteen European mountain bike championships, and five consecutive Mountain Bike World Cup downhill series (1998-2002). She was nominated for the 2003 Laureus World Sports Awards Alternative Sportsperson of the Year. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Chausson competed for France in the inaugural women's BMX event, winning the gold medal.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tracy Marie Moseley (born 12 April 1979)[2] is a British professional racing cyclist who was born in Worcester,[1] specialising in downhill mountain bike racing. Moseley's brother, Ed, was also a mountain biker, it was after he began riding cross country mountain bike races that a race was held on their farm in 1992; this was Tracy's first competition. Her first foray into downhilling came in 1994. Moseley's first international race was the World Championships in 1995 where she finished 8th. The following year she was funded by the Jason McRoy fund, to ride a French National event at Les Menuires. Moseley continued to race with increasing success, and despite sitting her exams late due to her racing schedule, graduated with a 2:1 degree in Biological Sciences in 2000.[3][4]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rachel Laura Atherton (born 6 December 1987, near Salisbury) is a professional racing cyclist specialising in downhill mountain bike racing, and is a multiple UCI World Champion.

Atherton began riding BMX at the age of 8 and mountain biking at the age of 11.[1] She was both Sunday Times' Sportswoman of the Year[2] and BBC Midlands Junior Sportswoman of the Year[3] in 2005, and then BBC Midlands Sportswoman of the Year in 2008.[4] In October 2015, a video of Atherton overtaking 91 competitors in five minutes during a race went viral.[5]

External linksCareer[edit]

Since 2007, Atherton has been part of the Animal Commençal race team along with brothers Dan Atherton and Gee Atherton. In 2012, Atherton, along with her brothers Dan, Gee and Marc Beaumont, signed with GT Bicycles. In 2015, Atherton and her brothers signed with Trek Bicycle Corporation to race for Trek Atherton Racing.[6]

In June 2008 Atherton became the first British woman to win the Elite UCI Downhill World Championship, defeating second placed Sabrina Jonnier by 11.99 seconds in the final.[7]

Atherton was involved in a collision with a pickup truck whilst on a time trial training ride with her brothers Dan and Gee in Santa Cruz, California, on 18 January 2009.[8] She sustained a dislocated shoulder which, after later needing a nerve graft,[9] ruled her out of the 2009 racing season, including the September World Championships in Canberra.[10]

In September 2012, Atherton took the final World Cup round on a diverse and testing Norwegian track and clinched the overall title, despite missing the opening race of the season. The Norwegian race was the final round of a seven-round series in which Atherton claimed a win in 5 of the 6 events she raced.

In June 2016, Atherton became the first woman to win 10 consecutive rounds of the World Cup, surpassing the record previously held by Anne-Caroline Chausson.[11] In September that same year, she also achieved the unprecedented feat of winning every round in a World Cup season.[12]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vanessa Quin (born 15 October 1976) is a world champion BMX and downhill rider from New Zealand.[1][2]

Quin competed in BMX events as a child, and moved into downhill mountain biking while at university.[3] She was sponsored by Dirt magazine and raced internationally for about ten years. In 2002 Quin broke her neck while competing at the New Zealand national event, but made a full recovery and returned to racing.[4] Quin represented New Zealand at 12 world championship events, including the 2004 event, when she won the elite women's section.[5] She was the first New Zealander to win a world elite championship in downhill mountain bike.[6] She was nominated as a finalist for the Halberg Award for Sportswoman of the Year 2004.[2]

In 2008 Quin retired from the sport to have children, and returned in 2013. She entered and won the New Zealand national BMX event, and also entered and won the 30 years and over women's section at the BMX World Championships held in Auckland the same year.[6]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Michelle Dumaresq is a Canadian professional downhill mountain bike competitor and post-operative trans woman. She competes with other professional female downhill mountain bike racers. She entered the sport in 2001, six years after completing sex reassignment surgery, when she was discovered riding on Vancouver's North Shore by several top women mountain bikers. Dumaresq was quite open about her history as a trans woman. The women, who were filming an independent film on female mountain bike riding, suggested Dumaresq consider racing and also invited Dumaresq to appear in their film, called "Dirt Divas.

Transexuality issues[edit]

Dumaresq had sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) performed in 1996, after having been on hormones for a lengthy period of time.

Since 2004, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), whose rules are used commonly throughout competitive sport, has allowed transsexuals to compete as their reassigned gender if the surgery has taken place at least two years prior to the competition and if the athlete has been on a regimen of hormones equal to that of a person born to the gender. In Dumaresq's case, she had undergone a gonadectomy six years prior to beginning competition and had been on hormones for well over six years. By this time any residual "advantage" of testosterone would no longer be present[citation needed]. (Equally, any competitor found guilty of doping - including taking testosterone - is banned from competition for two years.)

Competitive career[edit]

The first event Dumaresq entered was the Bear Mountain race held in Mission, BC in May 2001. She entered the novice female class and won. In fact, her finish time was 2.5 seconds faster than the winner of the female professional category. After racing two more races, her license was suspended by Cycling BC due to complaints from female competitors.

Cycling BC and the Canadian Cycling Association met privately with local organizers and at first suggested that Dumaresq quit racing. After discussion with the UCI the decision was made to permit Dumaresq to continue competing in the women's category. Dumaresq was not permitted to compete in the men's category since legally and medically she is female.

In April 2002, she was awarded a license to race in the women's category. Three weeks later, she entered her first race in the pro women's class and finished 3rd. The following week she placed 1st, beating her competition by 10 seconds. A wave of protest ensued and a petition was created and signed by female (and a few male) racers, asking for Dumaresq to be disqualified. Because she had a race license, the request was denied and her first professional win with females was upheld.

Dumaresq went on to win the 2002 Canada Cup series, which qualified her for the Canadian National team.

Later on, in September 2002, she co-represented Canada at the World Mountain Bike Championships. However, due to technical issues with her bike, Dumaresq only managed a 24th-place finish in the event.

In 2003, Dumaresq won the 2003 Canadian National Championships and again represented Canada in the 2003 World Championships. She repeated her Nationals win in 2004 and finished 17th at the 2004 World Mountain Bike Championships held in Les Gets, France.

At the 2006 Canadian Nationals, a protest from one of her competitors during the podium ceremonies brought renewed attention to Dumaresq's participation in female sports. The boyfriend of second-place finisher Danika Schroeter jumped up onto the podium and helped Schroeter put on a T-shirt reading '100% Pure Woman Champ'.

The Canadian Cycling Association suspended Schroeter for her actions. However, in a controversial move, the CCA announced that Schroeter's time off the race course would be served during the off-season when it would have no impact on her.

Leigh Donovan (born December 11, 1971 in Orange, California) is an American downhill mountain biker cycling ambassador and women's mountain bike clinic instructor.

Leigh Donovan was a champion mountain bike racer, competing from 1993 to 2001, the most decorated U.S. downhill and slalom rider. Leigh retired from her professional career in 2001, with the world championships in Vail, Co. as her final pro career event (where she placed 3rd in the final downhill). Leigh went into sports marketing with Hansens energy drink (at the ground level of what would become Monster Energy). She then went on to own and operate a very successful clothing boutique in Temecula, Ca. from 2003 until she departed the retail fashion business in March 2011.

In 2010, at 38 years of age, a mother of a 5 year old, retail business owner (Tangerine boutique in Temecula, Ca.) and 9 years after retiring from pro racing, Leigh decided to try to make the U.S. National Downhill team. Leigh competed at a few qualifier events and took 4th place at the USA CYCLING National Championships, qualifying her for the UCI World Championships at Mont St. Anne Quebec Canada. Leigh finished 8th place in the finals, was the highest placed American and oldest competitor in the race, Leigh and her daughter carried the flag out at the opening ceremonies. Leigh and her daughter Grace carry the U.S. Flag at opening ceremonies

Leigh married in 2000 and had one daughter in 2005. Leigh has been a long time women's mountain bike coach and instructor for women of all backgrounds and skill levels, promoting and hosting her own women's only events over the last 15 years. In 2014 Leigh launched a coaching and clinic business called iChooseBikes with a partnership from LIV bicycles and SRAM.

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