This is the forth checkin since I’ve been fortunate to have become a part of the Alopecia Areata
Australia Sponsorship program.

It has been a very full couple of months since the last check ,in which was the beginning of
February, both personally, professionally and within sport with a few key milestones reached.
Professionally I have embarked upon a new career pathway focussing on Nursing instead of
Midwifery working within a different health care setting and forming the new simulation team.
Through growing in confidence with the benefit of being supported to train and race my bike
whilst promoting Alopecia Areata to other people i have also grown professionally and am at a key
point of promoting what Alopecia Areata is and isn’t to other people.

In my personal and family life whilst continuing to train and race as hard as ever i have reduced
the distance of racing and moved away from my love of the 24hour format of racing. This allows
me to focus more on family and dedicate time to my young daughter. In order to spend more time
with her I have volunteered to be a trainee guide leader and their secretary. Without my mental
health being supported through the ability to compete in sport I don’t think i would have had the
courage to take this new venture on.

At the beginning of February i had the absolute privilege of attending the IN2Adventure 5 stage, 3
day mountain bike race in the Snowy Mountains in NSW. This would take in the sights of Lake
Crackenback, Jindabyne, Kosciuszko National Park and Thredbo. This was 3 days of intense, fast
paced racing and as there was talk of this being the last stage race to be held here all the very
talented people attended.

The turn out was greater than they had ever seen for a race of this nature and in my female 40 –
49 age category there were 14 of us including National and World champions. I turned up and
raced each stage as fast and as hard as possible and completed many of the technical challenges
across bridges, rocks, roots, water and sand. I trained, practiced, prepared, warmed up, raced
and recovered before and after each of the 5 stages so the race passed like a blur. I was very
happy to finish with only 1 fall and placed 8th in my category and earned a very nice finisher
medal.

During the race I had people come up and ask about the Alopecia Areata so i was able to
promote, teach and educate people around me during the time I was down in the Snowy
Mountains and I was grateful to have my husband and young daughter accompanying me
throughout.

Recently in March I raced at Awaba NSW for the National mountain bike cross country
championships. The racing was very technical and the weather was far from kind to the
competitors. On the first day of racing I earned a 3rd placing for 40 – 49 year old masters female
for the XCC which is basically around a dirt track of about 800 meters long for around 15 minutes.
I am not a classic sprinter so found this very challenging.

On the second day of racing the chaos started. The ground which had previously been sandy
turned into mud and the mud turned into a skating ring. Suddenly everything which was semi
rideable was unridable and I ended up running in mud trying to maintain the 3rd placing which I
then subsequently lost – I was outrun! Though the giant slip and slide race was somewhat fun I
did not end with the result which I wanted. I ended up with a 4th placing.

There are only 3 short months left of the sponsorship program and I aim to keep training and
racing right up until the end point of this. Despite setbacks in November with the snapped
ligament, and recently with Strep Throat and Tonsillitis my next race will be in June for a 100km
marathon race and then my goal race of the Noosa Enduro at the start of July.

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Rebecca was a part of our sponsorship program – you can also participate! Go here to learn more https://aaaf.org.au/sponsorship-program