From left: Pure joy as Kate celebrates her 2025 XCM World Championships win; a dawn ride in rainbow stripes; on the podium in Valais; a newfound friendship with Leadville rival Melisa Rollins; riding to victory with Annika Langvad at the 2018 Absa Cape Epic. |
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embrace the thrill and experience of mountain biking. The Foundation does this by rallying behind programmes and individuals that are creating spaces for women and girls to get on bikes and explore their potential, doing so with funding, visibility, strategic guidance, and a powerful network of allies.
“ To me, this mission-driven approach has been super inspiring,” says Kate,“ and it’ s a big part of what’ s keeping me really driven in this phase of my career, not just to talk about‘ dreaming big’ and‘ sending it’, but to embody that in the way that I’ m pursuing my big goals and embracing risk-taking, experimentation, and going all-in in this phase of my career.”
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LONGER CHAPTERS TO COME This phase of her career has seen her branch out into endurance racing, though that wasn’ t the original plan when she kicked off her 2025 season. However, she broke her wrist in the middle of the 2025 World Cup XC Series, forcing her to sit out three rounds. Being the adaptable and open-minded athlete that she’ s become, Kate saw opportunity in the misfortune. The timing was perfect for her to try her hand at the infamous Leadville 100 race in Colorado ‒ and her daring paid off. Kate broke away from the field midway into the 100-mile race and smashed Annika Langvad’ s decade-old record time by |
11 minutes when she crossed the finish line after 6 hours and 48 minutes.
“ After racing Leadville, it became really clear that I was set up well for Marathon Worlds,” she continues.“ I think in terms of mental preparation, equipment, my physical form, my nutrition, all of those little pieces built through my preparation to Leadville and into Marathon Worlds. I found myself really prepared for the demands of that event and really excited to take them on.”
Kate’ s performance in Switzerland was equally dominant. She led the 120km race from the get go, crushing 4 500m of elevation gain( at altitudes over 2 000m) to earn her second World Championship title.“ That victory was really an incredible
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PHOTOGRAPHS SUSAN THEIS, THOMAS MAHEUX / SWPIX, NICK MUZIK / CAPE EPIC, SUPPLIED |
28 | MTB | the untamed african mtb race |