Kathryn Bertine is an author, athlete, activist and documentary filmmaker. During her pro career in cycling, she was a three-time Caribbean Champion, six-time national champion of St. Kitts and Nevis (SKN) and raced five years on pro circuit with four UCI domestic and World Tour teams Colavita, Wiggle-Honda, BMW and Cylance Pro Cycling. Now retired from professional racing, Bertine serves as Trek’s Ambassador for Equality in Cycling.
Off the bike, she is a filmmaker, activist, journalist and author of three nonfiction books, All the Sundays Yet to Come, As Good As Gold, and The Road Less Taken. From 2006 through 2012, Bertine was a columnist, author and senior editor for ESPN. When she pitched a documentary film on women’s pro cycling to ESPN in 2012, they rejected the proposal. So Bertine decided she would make it herself. After a two-year labor of love and crowdsourcing adventures, in 2014, HALF THE ROAD: The passion, pitfalls and power of women’s professional cycling was released. It won five film festivals, debuted in 16 nations, scored international distribution and successfully brought the hammer down on the corruption and sexism in sports. Half the Road is now available on iTunes, Vimeo, Amazon Prime and DVD. Five years later, she continues to receive royalties on a film ESPN said no one would watch.
As an advocate for equality in women’s sports, Bertine then started the social activism movement Le Tour Entier in an effort to bring parity to women’s professional road cycling, starting with the Tour de France. She and her team succeeded, and women’s field was included in 2014 with the addition of La Course by Tour de France. In 2017, she founded and serves as CEO for Homestretch Foundation, which provides free housing to female professional athletes struggling with the gender pay gap. Bertine was featured on the cover of Bicycling Magazine and profiled in Outside Magazine for her platforms of implementing change in the world.
As an activist, Bertine continues to serve as a public speaker/lecturer on equality and advocacy. She shares her journey and her message—that through passion, disruption, opportunity and focus, anything is possible and we’re all capable of effecting change—with corporations, universities and other professional outlets. She is currently at work on her fourth book.
Listen to Kathryn speak now!
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Show notes
Kathryn introduces herself
Being an activist and athlete
Going back to the start of 2016
Why endurance athletes get better with age
Deciding that 2016 would be her last year of racing professionally
The big crash in April 2016
TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury
Recovery
Doing one final race
Fear of getting back on the bike?
How her body remembered what had happened
Friends and family’s fears
Preparing to transition out of the sport
Opening a non profit foundation
What’s happening in women’s cycling
Thoughts on the Tour de France
Getting angry…
Increasing awareness
How Kathryn is making change happen
Being a voice in her sport
Pro contracts that stop women talking about inequality
Being exhausted
Why anyone can create change
New book and the challenges of publishing
To self publish or not?
Funding her lifestyle
Big shout out to TREK BIKES
Am I worthy
The need to keep proving yourself
How we can support Kathryn with her work
Quick Fire Questions
Books
CEO, Homestretch Foundation: www.HomestretchFoundation.org
Author/Activist/Pro Cyclist: www.kathrynbertine.com
Come and say hi on twitter! @KathrynBertine @halftheroad @_TOUGH_GIRL
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Have a fantastic week! Sarah x
Listen to the first episode we did with Kathryn. Click the PLAY button below!
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