Two Dudes Win First and Second Place in London Women’s Cycling Event

Emily Bridges and Lilly Chant, two biological men who identify as transgender, won the first and second place slots at London’s ThunderCrit cycling event on Thursday.  

According to Reduxx, ThunderCrit is London’s largest fixed gear cycling race. The victory was announced on Twitter by the Women’s Rights Network, a UK based organization defending women’s sex based rights.

The tweet continues, “Notice anything different about them compared to the cyclist who takes third place?”

Third place went to the only biological woman in the photo. She’s pictured holding her child and standing in diminutive regard to her biological male counterparts.

In response, one tweet reads, “This pic tells the story of gender ideology perfectly. Men first, women & childrens needs last.”

Bridges and Chant’s victories contribute to a growing trend of biological men, who identify as transgender, competing in and dominating women’s sports. UPenn swimmer Lia Thomas has won swimming competitions by unprecedented margins while openly laying ambitions towards the Olympics.  Last year power lifter Laurel Hubbard was named “Sportswoman of the Year.”

All three victors competed in ThunderCrit’s Lightning category, which their website specifies is for “cis-women, non-binary people” and “trans men and women whose physical performance aligns most closely with cis-women.” The site continues that “cis-people cannot choose their racing category. Cis-men will race in the Thunder category, cis-women will race in the Lightning category.”

Prior to Thursday’s race, Bridges had been unable to compete in women’s cycling events. As reported by Outkick, Bridges couldn’t race in the British National Omnium cycling event after protest. Bridges was also cycling and winning competitions in male categories as recently as February, and was registered for the British National Omnium as a man.

The outrage continued through Bridges’ involvement in ThunderCrit, as one tweet noted “If injustice doesn’t inspire fury, you’re morally defunct.”

In October 2011, Chant posted on social media it would take 11 months of hormone treatment to reach acceptable levels to compete in women’s sports. ThunderCrit didn’t adhere to this criteria as June falls within that period.

These victories occur amid the statistical advantages biological men, even undergoing hormone treatment, have over women.  

ThunderCrit didn’t specify metrics for determining how their non-cis participant’s could self-assess their physical performances.

The term “cis,” as applied to gender, was coined in 1991, by German sexologist Volkmar Sigusch to create a distinction where everyone is either “cis” or “trans.” Sigusch’s work in gender theory extended beyond transgenderism and included other common sexologist topics such as his 2011 SPIEGEL interview where he identified as a pedophilia apologist.

With the increasing number of biological men dominating women’s sports The Post Millennial’s Libby Emmons tweeted: