“She’s accomplished, she’s confident, she’s loud, she doesn’t just tell you what you want to hear, she’s consistent in her message, she’s funny, she never lets ego interfere with her mission, and in my opinion, her ability to encourage and inspire others is simply unmatched”. – Paula Evenson
Leigh Donovan is the girl next door, her parent’s embraced Title IX, putting her in all the sports she could handle. Once in middle school, she fell in love with track and field, and looked like she could have a promising career (breaking county records in the 800m as a 7th & 8th grader). However, Leigh found BMX racing during the same time and couldn’t resist her love for the bicycle. Her love for riding bikes, turned into racing, and while Leigh developed her athletic skills through playing baseball, dance classes, gymnastics, softball, roller-skating, running and soccer, she never felt totally connected to anything but the bike.
At age 11, Leigh saw the lights at a local park near her grandparents and asked her cousin to drive her over to check them out. It was the first time she would witness BMX racing and immediately wanted to participate. It took almost 9 months for Leigh to convince her dad to let her race, but he finally gave in; giving her the best gift she had ever had at that point in her life. This BMX track location would become Leigh’s hometown local track (Known as Orange YMCA) and she would continue riding there for the next 33 years until the track closed in August of 2016. Her daughter Grace would racer her first and last BMX race on the final day of racing, placing 2nd against the boys. Leigh has always believed she was meant to be on a bicycle, and is so grateful that she found BMX during her youth. Leigh spent 8 years of her youth racing on the BMX circuit and traveling all over the United States making friends and learning about our great nation.
In 1992, when some BMX friends would invite Leigh to a mountain bike race at Mammoth Mountain, CA. Leigh accepted and that yes turned into a huge life experience and all the opportunities that would come after. During her youth, BMX wasn’t a sport that had a future for females (at the time, but today women races are some of the greatest Olympic athletes in the world), but mountain biking seemed limitless to the female riders and Leigh decided to drop out of college to put all her energy into being the best mountain bike racer she could be. Mountain biking didn’t come as easy as BMX did, but Leigh wanted to find her best and began to study the riders, hire an Olympic level coach and learn how to properly train for racing. As a student of those with more experience and knowledge, Leigh was found her best. After 3 full seasons on the circuit, Leigh joined the best in the world by winning the coveted UCI 1995 World Downhill Championships. That would be her breakout year, winning the world championships, and both the US National Championship titles in the dual slalom and downhill. They called it the Triple Crown, which has never been done by any American rider to date. Throughout her racing years, Leigh learned that she never wanted to stop being a student, and yearns to learn something new everyday. Today, Leigh loves teaching riders the skills to help them be safer on the bike, helping riders have more confidence and control. Her resume confirms her ability to know what she is talking about, but it’s her enthusiasm that will make learning from her fun. Happy trails!
Experience highlights and some human ones too!
- 2021 – Bicycling Hall of Fame “athlete” inductee
- 2014 – Mountain Bike Hall of Fame “athlete” inductee
- 2013 – BMX Hall of Fame “athlete” inductee
- 9X USA National Champion – Downhill and Dual Slalom
- 1995 – UCI World Downhill Mountain Bike Champion
- 1995 – X GAMES Gold medalist, Dual Slalom
- 2001 – UCI World Cup Series winner, Dual World Cup Champion
- 1993 to 2001 & 2010 USA National Downhill Team member
- 2001 – Winner of Richard Long sportsmanship award, only female to win
- 1997 – 2002 USA Cycling NORBA Board Member
- 1998 – Featured in Sports Illustrated “Swimsuit Edition”
- 2002 – 2011 Owned & Operated successful upscale retail-clothing boutique “Tangerine”
- 2014 – Launched ichoosebikes.com (a skills clinic business focused on getting more riders on bikes safely)