Transgender cyclist wins national series race despite suspension
British Cycling are investigating a complaint into how a transgender woman won a national series mountainbike race after the governing body had voted last month to suspend its trans inclusion policy.
Maxine Yates, a transgender woman, won the women’s 19+ category in British Cycling’s downhill national series event at Fort William earlier this month.
She was competing in what is considered to be the “expert” category – below the higher elite level – but British Cycling had made no distinction when it announced the immediate suspension of its transgender and non-binary policy on April 8, pending a full review.
Jane Page, who finished second to Yates in the race, is among those who have now raised the matter with British Cycling and accused the governing body of failing to implement its own rules.
Yates said she had checked with British Cycling to see whether she could race. “As I already had a licence and was not competing at an elite level, I was allowed to compete, is what BC informed me,” she said. “I’ve taken their advice at every turn and am disappointed BC have let this go on as far as it has. I have followed their rules.”
The suspension of the transgender policy had followed the decision to accept Emily Bridges’s entry for the national track omnium championships, only for the world governing body to rule that her application would be deferred to an expert panel.
British Cycling and the UCI’S most recent rules stated that transgender women could race in the female category provided that their testosterone had continuously remained below 5mnol for 12 months.
The UCI were expected to make their Bridges ruling within six weeks but it is now more than eight weeks since her application was blocked. It is understood that British Cycling is still waiting to discover the UCI’S stance.
“Like a lot of women, I feel really let down by this,” Page said.