February 18, 2021
Women of XTRI: A Magazine for the Fearless Females of the XTRI World Tour
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Simple Tips to Hone Your Bike Handling Skills 
Professional triathlete Caroline recently guest edited the second edition of The Journey magazine for the XTRI World Tour. Titled Women of XTRI, here she explains why she and XTRI think it is important to encourage more women to participate and how they intend to do just that.
By: Caroline Livesey
If you have yet to hear of XTRI, perhaps you have heard of Norseman which is the founding race of a series which now includes races all over the world. Characterised by their extreme nature, these races offer the opportunity for a completely different race experience. You only have to flick through the magazine to realise that.
Photo by Ido Holtkuile (Eline Kors, Celtman)
Sometimes all it takes is seeing other people you can identify with doing something you find inspiring to plant the seed. Once that seed is planted, you start to believe it is possible, the seed turns into a plan, and doors start to open.
Women are underrepresented in the sport of triathlon as a whole, but even more so in XTRI. In fact, at ICON XTRI (Italy) in 2018 there were only three female entrants. While XTRI pride themselves on the small fields and unique experience of their races, this is still way too few. I have long been an advocate of female equality in triathlon, but I became disillusioned with Ironman and its lack of progress in this (and other) areas. I raced my first XTRI in 2019 and was hooked. I was delighted to find out that the management of the XTRI World Tour share my goal of encouraging female participation. Together we formulated a plan; A magazine dedicated to the Women of XTRI, a Facebook group of the same name, and webinars that will feature the talented coaches and experts we have in our midst.
As I sought stories for the magazine and was introduced to all sorts of amazing ladies, I grew more and more certain that we were doing something necessary. There were so many women jumping at the chance to share their stories and experience, or to support me in other ways. There was an almost instant community formed (and growing) on Facebook, and it is clear from the interactions that some women were desperate for a safe place to share and to ask.
Our first webinar was a great success (you can watch it HERE), and I have already had messages from women who have been inspired and have started to consider that perhaps XTRI is not outside their ability. The stories in the magazine showcase women that are strong, focussed, tenacious, and carry an enormous sense of purpose and responsibility. Once committed to a race they are driven to finish despite sometimes catastrophic events in their lives which could have derailed them during the preparation. But these are also women with families, jobs, busy lives, health scares, doubts and fears. For many the hardest part was believing that doing an XTRI was possible and pressing the entry button. After that, the finish was all but a given.
I hope that women will read the magazine, be inspired by the incredible races in this series, and realise that there are many reasons why women are well equipped for this extreme style of triathlon. The XTRI World Tour is truly global and is growing all the time, with the first race in the USA scheduled for 2021. These races offer a completely different experience to triathletes, characterised by incredible scenery, but also by the requirement for planning and organisation of the athlete and the team they take with them. So, if you have often wished that you could have your best friend (or three!) running alongside you for those final tough miles of the marathon, now you can do just that. Although nobody can be sure what travel and racing will look like this year, I hope we are planting seeds. I am sure that once we can travel freely again our Women of XTRI community will be ready to encourage and support more female athletes from all over the world to get involved in XTRI and do what they dream.
Photo by Daniela Correia (Elizabeth Fernandes, Fodaxman)
Learn more about XTRI at https://xtriworldtour.com
Caroline has been competing as a professional triathlete since 2015 with numerous notable results at Ironman and half ironman distance. In 2019 won the Canadaman XTRI, and was 9th at the Ironman South American Championships (Cozumel). Since then she has been hooked on XTRI, but with limited racing in 2020, her and her husband Mark have been making documentaries both about themselves and others. She recently completed a coast-to-coast challenge in Costa Rica and has released a film about the journey on her YouTube Channel – The Brick Sessions. Watch the trailer HERE.
