Read on for more info of this "Surfer Girl of the Month"!
Risa Suseanty's Profile
Multiple Discipline Athlete, XC, DH, 4X, BMX, Road
at age 24, she ranked UCI World Downhiller #41 in 2005
won several Seagames Gold medals
And her personal webpage.
Last Saturday, Risa and Hong Chun helped me set up the MTB trail for Sunday's race, and on race day, she received her first SACA Ladies Open medal for this year - like she's done so many times before....in fact, all the times that she's raced locally for the MTB race series.
Singaporean lady bikers have quite a lot of work even trying to smell the trace left behind by this super duper lady who has once clocked 90 km /hr on a downhill race! It was great to have her back racing in the local circuit! We have a lot to learn from this young lass!
I was in awe of her prowess when I started watching the local MTB races many years back. Chandra was back then (and is still) the coach of the Indonesian national riders. Risa would tell me horror stories about the torture she was put through just to get into tip top racing condition. Puts me to shame to think about how easily some of us Singaporeans winge just from a little bitta pain and suffering! :P
I saw Risa bombing down a hill during the Asian MTB Championship 2003 held in Aomori , Japan! It was actually not really a hill, but a bloody mountain where the peak can only be reached via ski chairlifts! These Asian championships are selection races to select Asia's best athletes to represent the Asian contingent at the Olympics! China won 2 tickets and Japan, 1!
More photos from the Asian Championships 2004 : Album 1, Album 2, Album 3, Album 4, Album 5, Album 6, Album 7, Album 8.
This was my first non-local MTB / DH race and brush with Asian Mountain biking celebrities! It opened my eyes to the amount of biking talent just in Asia alone! I was introduced to Mio Suemasa, former Junior World Champion downhiller! She was originally a successful bike trial rider who eventually switched to Downhill and 4Cross. At 21, Mio is the youngest member of the UCI top ten and second youngest in the top 20! Below, Me o Mio in Aomori! :)
Found an interesting interview of Mio on the Descent-World website. Also came across an article about a Japanese lady downhiller who bit the dust a few months before the Aomori Championships in 2003! Yikes! And this happened during a practice run (wasn't sure whether it was a downhill or mountain bike race)!!! Reminded me of our experience with Swee Haw, how things happen when you least expect it!
This article about Haruko Fujinaka's death was published in the DirtRagmag.com website....and the poor 33 year old was on her honeymoon! How tragic can it be. The author interviewed several other competitors in order to learn from a tragic event by reflecting on how and why bikers ride, givne the big risks associated with the sport. Mio, a good friend and competitor of Haruko's, says "I don't want to waste her death."
The article ended with a cv listing out impressive injuries suffered by some of these riders for the love of their sport. I was totally amazed by Mio's response :-
Mio Suemasa:
Age: 20
Racing experience: 6 years
"I haven't been injured."
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