Motocross racer Kate Lees of Carlyle says, “Being a girl in a male-dominated sport is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
After competing at the Women's Western Motocross Nationals for the first time earlier this year, Lees is now ranked nationally as one of Canada's top ten female motocross racers; and the 19-year-old nursing student is both blazing a trail and serving as a role model for other female racers.
“I just like breaking barriers, I guess. And I'm really competitive and aggressive,” says Lees. “But I definitely see myself as a role model. At my very first race, there were only three girls and none of them talked to me. I felt really uncomfortable and I didn't want to come back. I make a point of talking to new girls and a couple of girls this year told me they look up to me and feel that if I can do it, they can, too.”
Lees-who competes against both women and men-says her dad, Brian talked with her about paying it forward early in her racing career.
“When I was 14, I started winning a lot of races,” she says. “He told me to make sure I didn't come off as cocky and said, 'You don't want to have that reputation.'”
“He taught me to be aware and pointed out that people are actually watching me (race), where I might be so focused on the race and just doing my thing,” she says. “I wouldn't ignore anybody who wanted to talk with me or ride with me. But it was a good reminder for me to be aware and to pay attention.”
“This year has been a lot different than last year,” says Lees. “Everybody knows about Nationals (where Lees placed in the top ten female motocross racers in the country), so I see a lot of little kids. Their parents bring them and most of them ask me how I did. There's one little boy in Carlyle who's only six or seven. He was practicing and he wanted me to come ride with him, so I did.”
“I'm happy to do it and to encourage young racers.”
Lees says she took her first ride at the age of 11 “at Rekkens' in Carlyle. My brother raced and my dad has the Kawasaki dealership in town, so I really started doing it to impress my dad,” she laughs. “It's a family thing, not only with my immediate family, but also with the other racers and their families.”
“Even if I'm racing at Rekkens', we still take our camper and everybody camps out and gets together the night before the competition,” says Lees. “It's like a big family. All of the families are there and we all sleep in our campers. There's a firepit and we all get together. Our dog Kane (a Siberian Husky) even comes to all of the races, but our cat Magic stays home,” she laughs.
“But seriously, I couldn't imagine racing without my parents. Circumstances last year meant they missed my last race, and everything went wrong,” says Lees. “I was crashing, the front brake seized up...Everything went wrong.”
“They're lucky for me.”
Even with the support of family, friends and the extended motocross community, Lees says that motocross racing is ultimately a solitary sport.
“When I'm racing, I'm really focused and it's the only place where I don't think of anything. I'm just focused on what I'm doing.”
“I race in both Ladies' and Men's classes,” says Lees. “In the Ladies' class, most of the bikes are smaller and things aren't as fast, but that's changing.”
“I didn't start racing in the boys' class until I was 14. I started at the back of the pack, and as I got higher, I got picked on. When I started dominating in the “C” class, I got picked on and I thought it would get better once I was in the “B” class,” says Lees. “But it got worse, the better I got,” she laughs.
“In “B” class, I got hit, run into and toppled over. It just made me want to hit them back. I'm really competitive and aggressive on the track. I've been hit four or five times in the same race. I've yelled at guys after the race and I've hit back, too.”
A typical race day for Lees-and her bike, a 2015 KX 250 F-begins with her morning playlist, which varies, depending on the type of race in which she's competing.
“Last year, I listened to “All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled. That was for when I was feeling really cocky,” she says. “If I wanted to calm down, like I did in Nationals, I listened to “I Lived” by One Republic.”
Racers wear a helmet and goggles, a jumpsuit, boots, chest protection, a neck brace and knee and elbow protection, but injuries aren't uncommon, and Lees is often subject to some good-natured teasing about her future profession when she's at the track.
“I knocked out my two front teeth when I was 15,” she says. “I broke my collarbone when I was 17, and I had surgery. A week before I went to Nationals, I hurt my ankle really bad, but I didn't get it checked out until I got back. I had two broken bones in my foot and a cracked ankle. But when I'm riding, I don't feel the pain as much.”
“I'm studying nursing at the University of Regina,” says Lees. “I'll still keep racing, even after I'm working as a nurse. And a lot of people tease me about being able to fix myself up, if I get another injury.”
Twice, Lees has trained in Allen, Texas, during the university's February reading week.
“I went three years ago and then this past February,” she says. “For 10 days, I rode every day. I went with my parents and Ty Ballard (from Roblin, Manitoba) and Myah Hjorteland (of Estevan) raced there, too. No one actually trains us. We just go down there and do our own thing. But we push each other.”
A successful veteran racer who has competed in both mens' and womens' classes, Lees says that competing and placing in the top ten nationally this spring in Nanaimo, Kamloops and Calgary was: “Pretty crazy and also awesome. But I was super-scared. I had to remind myself that it's just another race.”
“In Nationals, no one knew who I was, and I just kind of came out of the blue,” she says. “The first race was in Kamlopps, and I really wanted to be in the top ten. I placed 15th overall there and I was pretty mad. In Nanaimo-where the second race was held, I hit the top ten for the first time, placing 9th overall and in Calgary, I placed 10th in the top ten.”
“I'm already looking forward to going back next year.”
Along with her will to win, Lees says one of her goals is to continue to support women's motocross.
“If I could tell kids one thing it would be this: 'Champions are made when the stands are empty, every champion started where you did. Secondly, riding “like a girl” is not an insult and never will be.'”
Kate Lees is proof of that.
