USA Cycling has been accused of hiding the participation of a trans competitor before they won a women’s national championship race on Monday.
The 55-and-over race held in Wisconsin was eventually won by Kate ‘KJ’ Phillips, a biological male who has also competed in rugby previously.
But fellow competitor Debbie Milne has told the Daily Mail that she believes Phillips’ presence in the race was ‘hidden’ from competitors beforehand, as she was unable to see Phillips’ name on the registration for the event. Julie Peterson, who finished second chose to boycott the podium.
Milne is not the only person who believes the USAC acted deceptively.
Milne, who ultimately finished seventh in the event, said she spent $400 and drove 13 hours from Greenville, South Carolina to attend the race.
While she saw a photo from a competitor showing that Phillips had apparently registered on June 16, Milne doesn’t believe USAC was ‘transparent’ and doesn’t want to race again until that changes. The Daily Mail has reached out to USAC and Phillips for comment.
KJ Phillips (center) won the 55+ women’s national championship on Monday in Wisconsin
Debbie Milne traveled 13 hours for the race and said she was not aware Phillips was competing
‘I should have been able to see it. I should have been able to look someone up and decide if I’m even going to make the trip until they get the policies worked out,’ she said.
‘I’m a board certified sports dietician. It’s been established that there’s a biological advantage if someone is born male… I love people… But the fact is that the person I raced today was born a biological male.
‘And if I had known that, I could at least not just decide that I don’t want to invest my money and my time in this, until the policies follow what the science has indicated at this point.’
As per the USAC’s latest policy on transgender athletes from last year, which separates athletes into Group A and Group B, transgender athletes are allowed to compete under specific guidelines.
For Group A (higher-level) athletes, an ‘elite athlete fairness evaluation’ must be reviewed and approved by an independent medical panel, with athletes having to meet certain testosterone thresholds to compete.
For Group B athletes, they must submit a ‘self identity verification request’, which is reviewed by the organization’s technical director.
National championships (except for those which are governed by USAC’s parent organization, UCI) are treated as Group A events, meaning that Phillips – in theory – would have to qualify as such.
Milne, who has been in touch with the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), said that race organizers did not acknowledge to her or other cyclists afterwards that Phillips’ name was seemingly not on the registration, and that she didn’t hear an explanation given as to why that happened.
The 56-year-old mom, a 27-time Masters national champion, said she observed ‘unbelievable strength’ from Phillips during the race.
‘I started my sprint, and right at the key point for me, I almost made it to the line and [this] KJ, blew past me, blew past me, and that’s when all the women began to say, like, “Hey, I know this person. This person actually was born a biological male”.’
Phillips is a passionate cyclist and shares snaps of her doing the activity to her Instagram
Milne (center) is highly-accomplished in the cycling world and is the winner of numerous titles
Phillips, whose Instagram bio reads ‘sport is for EVERYONE’, previously wrote in the comments on a Zwift Insider profile about her that exclusionary ‘rhetoric actually hurts women’s cycling… it perpetuates patriarchy and misogyny.’
‘I have been competing in sports for longer than many other women, 20 years within the IOC guidelines (yeah, I was the 1st US trans athlete under the 2004 IOC rules when I played rugby; I am way proud of that), and sadly the uptick in pushback came when gay marriage was no longer the issue de jour,’ she wrote last year.
‘There is a faction out there that just can’t stand seeing change. Now the focus is on trans/non-gender conformity, which has hit the list of hyped controversy and hate, and the followers of this thought won’t or don’t want to take the time to see that there isn’t a problem…that MORE women (WTFNB [women, trans, femme and non-binary] included) are better for all sports.’
For her part, Milne said that ‘every person has value’ and insisted she is not ‘hateful,’ but believes there should be a separate division for trans competitors.
She added: ‘I want them to feel included, but I think that they need a separate playing field, like a category, you know, a person who wants to race as a woman that was born a biological male.
‘If we truly are giving them respect, I would say you can’t erase the fact that you were born a biological male. That can’t be undone, but you deserve a right to be included in this process of racing your bikes.’
Milne, who described herself a fervent studier of the sport’s rules, said she previously raced against transgender competitors in the past before rules about their participation were ‘settled.’
However, she now says she will educate herself more on the ‘complicated’ topic.
Milne said that Phillips displayed ‘unbelievable strength’ during the race on Monday
‘Inclusion is 100% important. And I’ve always treated everyone I’ve raced with – when they’ve been transgender women. I’ve included them, spoken with them, raced with them, and treated like everyone else. Got mad at them the same I would as any other racer if they cut me off or whatever, I check on them when they crash.
‘But I think that it’s not fair to a woman who wasn’t born with that same advantage. So I want to be in every way is absolutely inclusive to every individual, but I wanna have a separate playing field where it’s fair.’
Milne’s comments come as the University of Pennsylvania agreed to resolve alleged Title IX violations over the school’s transgender former swimmer, Lia Thomas.
The Department of Education said that the school will ban trans athletes from women’s competitions and erase Thomas from the school’s record books.
Swimmers impacted by Thomas’ inclusion in women’s NCAA competitions will also receive a personal apology from Penn and be retroactively awarded records and titles.
Milne declined to comment on that development.
