By Katy Savage
Sarah Hamlin was 11 when she first started mountain bike racing. She competed in the U-12 category with boys because there weren’t enough girls for them to have their own team.
Now, 15, Hamlin is a sophomore at Killington Mountain School and she just became a professional rider for the first time on an all-women’s team that fellow Killington Mountain School student Mazie Hayden started with her dad last fall called GT Wild Rye Racing — sponsored by a bike company called GT Bicycles and a women-owned clothing company called Wild Rye.
“I really wanted to create my own professional team after being on someone’s else’s team,” Hayden said. “There is no all-women team and there’s even less women in Downhill.”
When Hayden started forming the team, the first person who came to join her was Hamlin.
“She is incredibly positive and very resilient,” Hayden said. “She can have a bad run or fall in her run and she can just think about how she can improve it. As a student at KMS, I know how easy it is to burn out and I don’t see her doing that. I really appreciate that in her.”
There’s an age gap between them, but they know each other well. Hayden, 23, used to be Hamlin’s coach.
“I had always looked up to Mazie when I started getting into mountain biking more,” Hamlin said. “She would do some camps for Killington and I would see videos Killington would produce on their Youtube channel. It was funny because the first year I started biking I did private lessons with her.”
Hamlin has noticed an uptick in the number of women since she started racing.
“It’s cool to see that it’s growing and how mountain biking is getting more inclusive. Being on the women’s team is setting an example for girls who want to do it in the future.”
Hamlin added that she wants to be “that person that someone will look up to some day.”
This will be Hamlin’s third time competing in Downhill at the U.S. Open of Mountain Biking. She won her age group in 2022 and she placed fifth in her age group in 2023.
She said the crowd makes this race feel different.
“The crowds are just so much bigger and I love that it’s at my home mountain,” Hamlin said. “It feels nice to just have the home crowd come out. Even kids from KMS will come and support the bike team. I’ve never seen a crowd like it before.”
Hamlin wants to continue growing in her sport, hoping to compete in World Cup races when she’s eligible at 17. This year, she hopes to place in the top five at the U.S. Open.
“The girls in my category are very competitive,” Hamlin said. “I’m just looking forward to riding well and having fun while doing it and staying competitive.”
Submitted
Sarah Hamlin will join Mazie Hayden on the GTWild Rye team.
