Transcenders is a Hudson Valley-based transgender and non-binary athletics team. They are focused on community building, storytelling and resource sharing and aim to uplift trans and non-binary athletes’ voices.
The team was founded in 2022 by Ais Oisín (they/them), Miche Madrone (they/them), Reed Williams (he/they) and Mylo Choy (they/them). The four wanted to create a space where fellow trans and non-binary athletes could feel included.
Madrone said “[We] were all individually struggling with the binary systems of sport, specifically in the running space. We were each looking for ways to connect with other trans and non-binary athletes for support and community.”
The Transcenders team aims to create “a place to share ideas and stories, provide resources for and with one another and celebrate our joys and victories, as athletes and coaches,” Madrone said.
“Our ability to persevere through life translates to us also being rugged athletes,” said Williams. “We have a few members with long endurance event goals right now, some runners and some cyclists. We have others looking to find community and rekindle their relationships with their respective sports. Our members also have a vast array of non-athletic goals that we like to support and celebrate as well.”
In their first two years, Transcenders has accomplished an array of achievements, spanning several sports. Oisín shared that the group “set the fastest known time for a non-binary team on the Connecticut section of the Appalachian trail.”
In March, Katari Sisa won the New York Road Runners Half Marathon in the non-binary section. More recently, on Sept. 14, Transcenders participated in the Dutchess County Classic Half Marathon. Sisa came in second and Williams got their best time by a one-minute and 11-second improvement. They had their first meet on Aug. 3 in Poughkeepsie, with the next scheduled for Aug. 2, 2025.
With the recent Imane Khalif controversy, the involvement of trans athletes in sports has become a heavily debated topic. With this recent wave of hate, trans athletes having a safe space is more important than ever. “I wish major sports organizations understood gender enough to know how hypocritical their limiting policies are and how harmful they are for all people leaving bodies to be policed. All people deserve to be respected and not have their identities turned into a political debate,” Oisín said.
“The people who run athletic spaces don’t focus on details of safety for marginalized athletes because it’s not their main concern,” they continued. “Safety isn’t profitable. It doesn’t give you clout. These organizations won’t protect us. We protect us. That’s how it works.”
With these recent events, Oisín said, “My main goal with Transcenders is to see my community be free, as free as possible through movement. The misconceptions will be misconceptions. Our focus is empowering each other to dream and working to support those dreams.”
Williams shared that, in the future, the Transcenders would like to host “different types of sporting and community events, documenting the stories of trans athletes and self-driven endurance adventures.”
“At the core of it all, we want to grow Transcenders so that we can reach more trans people that will thrive in this community.”
If you are interested, you can contact them at transcenders.team@gmail.com, DM them at @transcenders.team on Instagram or check out their website https://www.transcenders.team/.