Caroline Sarah J. Alexander (born 3 March 1968) is a cross-country mountain biker and road cyclist born in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 the ...

. She was a swimmer as a child and did not cycle until she was 20. She first rode a bike in competition in a

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...

: she came second in the swimming and was fastest on the bike. She entered her first mountain bike race, which she won. Within a year she was one of the top three mountain-bike racers in the UK. She left her job as a draughtswoman in Barrow shipyards and became a full-time cyclist. She represented Britain at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. She was a reserve for the

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

team at the 2001

UCI road world championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

Alexander also represented Britain at the

UCI Women's Road World Cup The UCI Women's Road Cycling World Cup was a season-long road bicycle competition for women organized by the Union Cycliste Internationale between 1998–2015. This competition consisted of a series (which has varied from 6 to 12 events) of rac ...

events in 2002. Alexander represented Scotland in the first mountain-bike event in the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in 2002. She was the first British female mountain biker to win a UCI World Cup stage in 1997. Alexander retired from cycling in 2004. In 2009, she was inducted into the

British Cycling Hall of Fame The British Cycling Hall of Fame was established in 2009 as part of British Cycling's 50th anniversary celebrations. On 17 December 2009, the names of fifty one people involved in cycling to be inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame wer ...

Major results

Caroline Alexander GB CC MTB European Championship Spindleruv Mlyn 1995

;1993 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National XC Championships : 2nd Silver medal europe

UEC European XC Championships ;1994 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National XC Championships : 2nd Overall UCI XC World Cup ;1995 : 1st UEC Champion Jersey

UEC European XC Championships : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National XC Championships ;1996 : 1st Overall Mountain Bike Tour of Britain ::1st 6 Stages : UCI XC World Cup ::2nd

Bromont Bromont is a city in southern Quebec, Canada, at the base of Mont Brome; it is in the Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality. The Bromont area and its resort, Ski Bromont, is well known as a tourist destination for its downhill skiing, m ...

::3rd

Helen Helen may refer to: People * Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world * Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress * Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) Places * Helen, ...

;1997 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National XC Championships : UCI XC World Cup ::1st

Sankt Wendel Sankt Wendel is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According to a survey by the German Association for Hou ...

::2nd

Špindlerův Mlýn Špindlerův Mlýn (; german: Spindlermühle, formerly also ''Spindelmühle'') is a town in Trutnov District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,100 inhabitants. It lies in the Giant Mountains and it is one of the m ...

;1998 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National CX Championships ;2000 : 1st Stage 3

Redlands Bicycle Classic The Redlands Bicycle Classic is a cycling stage race located in Redlands, California, United States that has been held since 1985. It consists of three road races, an individual time trial and a criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race ...

: 2nd Road race, National Road Championships : 2nd Sea Otter TT ;2001 : 1st Overall

Sea Otter Classic The Sea Otter Classic is a bicycling and outdoor sports festival and exposition held each spring since 1991 at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. The four-day event is considered the world's largest cycling festival, ...

: 2nd Overall UCI XC World Cup ::2nd

Mont-Sainte-Anne Mont-Sainte-Anne is a ski resort in eastern Canada, located in the town of Beaupré, Quebec, about northeast of Quebec City. The mountain is part of the Laurentian mountain chain and has a summit elevation of above sea level with a vertical dr ...

::3rd

Durango Durango (), officially named Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Durango; Tepehuán: ''Korian''; Nahuatl: ''Tepēhuahcān''), is one of the 31 states which make up the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in ...

: 6th UCI World XC Championships ;2002 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National XC Championships : UCI XC World Cup ::2nd

Houffalize Houffalize (; german: Hohenfels; wa, Oufalijhe) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium.Sven Vrielinck: De territoriale indeling van België 1795-1963 Volume 1. Universitaire Pers Leuven 2000. page 48 ...

: 5th Cross-country,

: 7th

La Flèche Wallonne La Flèche Wallonne (, French for "The Walloon Arrow") is a men's professional cycle road race held in April each year in Wallonia, Belgium. The first of two Belgian Ardennes classics, La Flèche Wallonne is today normally held mid-week betw ...

References

1968 births Living people Scottish female cyclists Cross-country mountain bikers Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Barrow-in-Furness Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland {{England-cycling-bio-stub