Cycling Time Trials Announce New Transgender Policy

June 14, 2023

14th June 2023, 9am BST - Cycling Time Trials Limited (CTT) the governing body for time trialling in England, Scotland and Wales announce new policy for transgender competitors.

14^th June 2023, 9am BST /ENDURANCE SPORTSWIRE/ – The team at Cycling Time Trials (CTT) have today announced that transgender women (those who have transitioned from male to female) will no longer be eligible to ride in female competitions.

CTT’s purpose is to facilitate and run time trials – where each competitor rides alone “against the clock” for a set distance or time. By its nature, time trialling is a “gender affected sport”; which by definition means that the strength, stamina and physique of the average competitor of one gender is different from another.

Following extensive internal work and insight from other sports governing bodies, CTT have made this decision as it is certain that transgender women can retain the physical advantages gained by a male when going through male puberty, and this does not support a level and fair playing field for competition. The team emphasise that all transgender persons and non-binary persons are very welcome to continue taking part in competitive time trialling, and following in the footsteps of British Cycling. have renamed the male category to “Open”. Non-binary persons (persons who affirm that they are neither male nor female) will also be invited to compete in this category.

The new policy will mean those competing in the female category are able to satisfy all the following requirements:- 1) Their sex assigned at birth was female, and 2) They must not have undergone any part of male puberty, and 3) Their testosterone serum level must be below 2.5 nmol/L if tested.

The Board of CTT will create a new body – a Gender Tribunal, to decide gender eligibility issues and provide sensitive guidance to those affected by this policy. More information about this can be found here.

Andrea Parish, Chair of Cycling Time Trials (CTT) says: “Here at CTT, we are committed to the promotion of inclusivity and a fair competition in sport. This decision underpins these such values and shows our collective support for womens sport.”

If you have any questions or would like more information please contact the team via press.enquires@cyclingtimetrials.org.uk.

And to learn more about Cycling Time Trials visit www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk or follow them via Facebook, Twitter,Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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Images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wbXRUD5ggYJHecAocrPvCnYKcsAyIfP1?usp=sharing

Contact

Name: Kate Allan – Compete PR

Email: Kate@competepr.com

Phone: +447754 072648

Editors Notes

Cycling Time Trials is the National Governing Body for time trials in England, Scotland and Wales.

In the early days it resembled more like what we now know as road racing where all competitors started together and the first to cross the line won.

With the introduction of the motor car all this changed, with events being pushed off the road and held on velodromes. However there were those who still wanted to compete on the road.

One of these, FT Bidlake by name, came up with a plan. If each rider were to be dispatched separately and just timed over the course, he wouldn’t be seen to be racing, just going about his normal business “a bit quick like”! Then the person covering the course in the shortest time could be (secretly) declared the winner.

So Time Trialling came into being.

In the early days (and until relatively recently) it was a fairly simple matter of finding a convenient place to start an event, measuring half the intended distance of the event up the road, noting the place where a marshal was to be stationed to turn the riders, and fixing the finish opposite the start. Traffic conditions have all but put paid to that sort of simplicity. Now courses have to be designed with turning points at convenient flyovers or roundabouts, starts and finishes are rarely very close together, and the provision of a HQ with changing facilities is high on the priority list.

As the years have passed, various changes have been made. Time Trialists no longer have to meet in secret, wearing what was called “inconspicuous clothing”. Pre-event publicity, has been allowed for as long as most people can remember, and prize winners are allowed to receive cash prizes.

The idea of individuals riding “against the clock” and ignoring any other rider who they catch or who catches them still holds true for the majority of events today but there are also events which are for teams of two, three or four riders who ride together known as Team Time Trials – shortened to 2up/3up/4up TTTs.

Events held on flattish main roads and following a more-or-less “out and home” pattern are still in the majority but with the increasing level of traffic there has been a tendency for more events of a so called “sporting” nature to take place. These are often on hillier roads and usually follow circuit type courses so that the route can be followed by using only left turns. This means, the problems associated with the long “spear-point” intersections of dual carriageway roads can be avoided.

Many over 40s take part in Time Trials and the VTTA (Veterans Time Trials Association) devised a system of “Standards”. These are only for those 40 years old and more and consists of a table of allowable times at each age for all the standard distances competed at. To work out the result of an event each rider’s time is compared to his Standard and the difference (±) is credited. The winner is the rider with the most plus.

All open events are advertised in the annual ‘CTT handbook’ and via the website. To ride in any of them you need to be a member of a club affiliated to Cycling Time Trials. There are at least that number again of “Club Events” (which are generally not advertised) and if you approach the club promoting one of them you could get a ride on a “come and try it” basis.