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A champion female cyclist has quit the sport after constant beatings by transgender athletes, admitting in a heartbreaking message: ‘I lose no matter how hard I train.’
Hannah Arensmen, a 35-time winner on the national cyclocross circuit, revealed her ordeal in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of legislation in West Virginia which seeks to ban transgender student athletes from competing outside their biological gender.
An injunction by a lower court is currently barring the law from being enforced over claims that it violates Title IX federal sex discrimination protections in education.
Arensmen is among 67 athletes, coaches and family members who have asked the Supreme Court to intervene, and provides a moving account of how she felt has ‘overlooked and humiliated’ as she has been bested in races by male-born athletes.
It comes as transgender cyclist Tiffany Thomas, 46, blew the competition of out of the water at the Randall’s Island Crit event in New York over the weekend. Thomas, who only took up cycling in 2018, is 14 years older than her eldest teammate.
Hannah Arensmen (pictured), a 35-time winner on the national cyclocross circuit, revealed her ordeal in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in support of legislation in West Virginia which seeks to ban transgender student athletes from competing against outside their biological gender
Tiffany Thomas, center, took first place at the Randall’s Island Crit cycling race in New York City over the weekend
Writing in her amicus brief to the Supreme Court, Arensmen said: ‘I was born into a family of athletes. Encouraged by my parents and siblings, I competed in sports from a young age, and I followed in my sister’s footsteps, climbing the ranks to become an elite cyclocross racer.
‘Over the past few years, I have had to race directly with male cyclists in women’s events.
‘As this has become more of a reality, it has become increasingly discouraging to train as hard as I do only to have to lose to a man with the unfair advantage of an androgenized body that intrinsically gives him an obvious advantage over me, no matter how hard I train.
‘I have decided to end my cycling career. At my last race at the recent UCI Cyclocross National Championships in the elite women’s category in December 2022, I came in 4th place, flanked on either side by male riders awarded 3rd and 5th places.
‘My sister and family sobbed as they watched a man finish in front of me, having witnessed several physical interactions with him throughout the race.
‘Additionally, it is difficult for me to think about the very real possibility I was overlooked for an international selection on the US team at Cyclocross Worlds in February 2023 because of a male competitor.
‘Moving forward, I feel for young girls learning to compete and who are growing up in a day when they no longer have a fair chance at being the new record holders and champions in cycling because men want to compete in our division.
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‘I have felt deeply angered, disappointed, overlooked, and humiliated that the rule makers of women’s sports do not feel it is necessary to protect women’s sports to ensure fair competition for women anymore.’
In West Virginia, the state’s Attorney General Patrick Morrissey earlier this month filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court asking it to wipe away a lower court decision so it could enforce its Save Women’s Sports law.
Signed in 2021, the law seeks to ban transgender women and girls from participating in public school sports except against those of their biological gender.
The law is being challenged by 12-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson who has been able to compete in middle-school cross-country and track events as a result of an injunction by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lawyers for Pepper-Jackson argued in court papers filed Monday that the state’s claim that it is being harmed by the injunction is unfounded.
Hannah Arensmen, left, in a post from her Instagram account. She has retired from the sport after getting bested by trans athletes
Hannah Arensen, center, with friends at a cycling event
‘In short, the Application does not come close to the type of urgent and compelling circumstances required for extraordinary relief from this Court,’ the filing states.
‘There is no basis for this Court to order B.P.J. off the playing field where she has been for her entire middle school career to date and where her presence harms no one.’
The lawyers said that enforcing the law would ’cause B.P.J. to lose her “second family.”‘
Morrisey, a Republican, defended the legislation, stating: ‘Our case is simple: It’s about protecting opportunities for women and girls in sports.’
West Virginia lawmakers argue that transgender women and girls have physical advantages over biological females which ruin competition in sport.
At least eight states have enacted similar bans in 2022.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
