Kathy Sessler, manager of the Santa Cruz Syndicate MTB team
Fancy the job of managing a major MTB downhill race team? Kathy Sessler does just that.
Kathy Sessler is best known for being the Santa Cruz Syndicate team manager, but before managing the team she had a successful downhill career in the 1990’s. Two-time unofficial vet World Champion and three-time vet National Champ she has also performed stunts in films; Living in Fear and She’s No Angel in 2001 and Born to ride in 2011. She was the first ever ‘Maxxis girl’ and her best pro result was 10th at the UCI World Cup at Mammoth in 1994.
Her first race was the Fall Classic at Big Bear in 1990, then the California State Championship Series in 1991. In 1992 Kathy raced downhill in the Pro class, racing pro Downhill until World Champs in 1997. She was 3-time National Champ Veteran Women in 1992, 933, and 94, and World Championship Veteran Women’s Silver medallist in 1992, winning bronze in 1994 and Gold in 1996. In the 1993 and 94 World Championships she was the fastest veteran woman in the senior’s race.
She has been nicknamed ‘one fast mother’ and now spends her time working with the Santa Cruz team, managing their schedules as well as providing race reports, information and photos to the media.