Tipsheet

Trans Cyclist Wins North Carolina Race Minutes Ahead of Runner-Up

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  June 12, 2023 11:15 AM

A biological male cyclist who identifies as a “transgender woman” won a women’s race in North Carolina over the weekend, beating the second-place finisher by five minutes. 

Austin Killips, 27, won $5,000 after coming in first place at the 131-mile Belgian Waffle Ride in Hendersonville on Saturday, according to the New York Post. Killips reportedly “surged ahead” shortly after the start of the race.

After the race, Killips said in an interview that he was “really proud to lay it out there and get the result.” 

“I asserted myself and was able to get a gap early,” he added.

Last month, Townhall covered how Killips took home the overall win in the women’s category in the Tour of the Gila race in New Mexico. This sparked major backlash toward the organizers of the event.

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Shortly after, Michael Engleman, the director of the Tour of the Gila race, spoke out against the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) policies allowing trans athletes to compete against women.

“This could kill the sport,” Engleman said in an interview with The Telegraph. He added that he received threats after reports broke that Killips won the race.

“I know how hard it is to get people to put money into a women’s team, at any level,” he added. “And now they’re asking, ‘Is this something I can touch?' What if an athlete says the wrong thing? This is harming the sport. It’s a reality that somebody has to speak about.”

Shortly after, UCI announced that it may revise its transgender athlete policy.

“The UCI acknowledges that transgender athletes may wish to compete in accordance with their gender identity,” the organization said in a statement, according to NBC News. “The UCI rules are based on the latest scientific knowledge and have been applied in a consistent manner. The UCI continues to follow the evolution of scientific findings and may change its rules in the future as scientific knowledge evolves.” 

At a separate race, a male-bodied transgender cyclist who won a race against females stood alone on the winners’ podium after the event after female athletes refused to pose on the winners’ podium and be photographed with him, which Townhall reported.

According to the New York Post, the athlete, Lesley Mumford, transitioned to live as a woman in 2017. This month, Mumford won a “grueling” gravel race at the 100-mile Desert Gravel Co2UT and competed against women.

“I have no idea why so many people bailed before the podiums, but they did,” Mumford, 46, reportedly wrote in an Instagram post after the awards. “I swear I wasn’t the only one in my age group.”

Inga Thompson, a three-time Olympian, said on Twitter that the silent protests against transgender athletes are starting.