Bahrain-based cyclist Fatima Altaie has pedalled her way to a £10,000 (BD5,100) fundraising milestone for UK blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia during the Tour de France Femmes this month.
Reported to have been the longest yet, the latest edition featured a 1,175km total distance, with a record elevation gain of 18,795m. The amateur athlete covered around 150km across each of the nine stages over nine days, alongside 18 other women from around the world, making her the first Arab woman to complete the challenge. Together, the cyclists raised more than £253,000 (BD129,000).
The Tour de France Femmes, part of the UCI Women’s World Tour, is an annual, multi-stage professional road cycling race for women in France, and features elite female cyclists competing over multiple stages of varying terrain – from flat sprints to challenging mountain climbs. The winner earns the iconic yellow jersey.
Ms Altaie celebrates her achievement
“My life has been revolving around this event for the last year and finishing it successfully has been truly satisfying,” Ms Altaie from Saar told the GDN.
“Cure Leukaemia is just phenomenal in terms of doing clinical trials and treatments for adults and specifically children who suffer from leukaemia and blood cancer. It was an honour to help bring awareness to the charity and the things that they’re doing and help raise funds for them,” added the 32-year-old.
Set up in 2003, Cure Leukaemia is a major charity partner of the Tour de France Femmes and has been able to expand and offer potential life-saving treatment to patients across the UK. Its Trials Acceleration Programme allows a catchment area of more than 20,000,000 patients to be connected with world-class and potentially life-saving treatments that would otherwise not be available to them through standard care.
Blood cancer is a term that is used to describe many different types of the disease that can affect the blood, bone marrow or lymphatic system.
Globally, more than one million people receive a blood cancer diagnosis every year, and around 40,000 in the UK.
Ms Altaie highlighted the support she received from the local community towards the cause and the race, with donations coming in from individuals and social groups since she made an announcement on her social media last summer.
“Bahrain’s professional cycling team – Team Bahrain Victorious – who have been participating in the Tour de France for the last 10 years, generously sent me a brand new racing bike. The Bianchi Oltre is the official partner to Team Bahrain Victorious and one of the oldest bicycle brands in the world made in Italy,” she added.
In the months leading up to the race, the athlete trained indoors, which she followed up with a month-long outdoor training camp in Ireland closer to the event.
“Training in Bahrain has its own challenges because the terrain is absolutely flat unlike the Tour de France which is mountainous. Even some of the stages that were categorised as flat, had more than 1,500 metres of elevation, which is significant.
“I had booked a trip to Spain in March, planning to attend a training camp. Spain has some of the best terrains in Europe for cyclists. Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, I could not go. So I had to focus on training indoors and used a programme called Zwift. You mount your cycle on the machine, which emulates the gradient.
“My husband and I are teachers and after we finished school, we booked our summer flights to go to the north of Ireland at the end of June. So I knew I had a whole month of training that I could do there. While Ireland is not mountainous, they have rolling hills to get your legs used to that simulation,” she explained, noting that even after all the training, facing the reality was different.
“During stage seven, which was the Queen stage, we climbed the iconic Mount Ventoux. It’s around a 20km climb and an 8.8 per cent gradient which is quite steep. It is the first time it was featured in the Tour de France Femmes. You grind on your bike for a minimum of two and a half hours to get to the top of the mountain,” she added.
Riding with a view
Having checked the prestigious international race off her list, Ms Altaie hopes to continue pursuing her passion for pedalling with plans to participate in the Nasser Bin Hamad Cycling Tour for Amateurs in the winter.
Additionally, she is open to helping other amateur women with their cycling goals.
“In Bahrain, cycling is predominantly male-dominated and female participation is quite low but the younger generation loves the sport, which must be encouraged,” noted the mother-of-one, who took up the sport after giving birth to cope with postpartum depression.
It was her husband, Steve Graham, who encouraged her to try a new sport to support her mental well-being.
“It was part of my healing journey and helped me bounce back,” she added.
melissa@gdnmedia.bh
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