Like A Girl: The Fierce Women of INFINIT

"You _____ like a girl."

“Like a girl” - A statement long used to belittle women's athletic abilities throughout history. “You throw like a girl,” “you run like a girl,” all phrases that have become so commonplace that you hear them anywhere from an elementary school payground to the corporate workplace. 

At INFINIT, we see things a bit differently. Swimming like a girl is swimming across the English Channel, biking like a girl is trekking across hundreds of miles of siberia, and running like a girl is just something you do after biking 112 miles and swimming 2.4.

So meet the fierce women of INFINIT and see how these ladies truly embody what it really means to compete "like a girl"

To INFINIT athlete Alycia Hill, “Like a girl” means means being the 2016 Duathlon National Champion. Add that onto coming in fifth at 70.3 worlds in 2015 and second at Standard World Championships that same year. Alycia swims like a girl, bikes like a girl, and runs like a girl.

Amber Ferreira embodies the fierceness of an INFINIT athlete. A professional triathlete with numerous top 10 finishes in 70.3 distance competitions. Amber, a relentless competitor — who rarely lets a weekend go by without racing or coaching someone through their own race — swims, runs, and bikes like a girl, and by that we mean, like a beast.

"The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me." 

- Ayn Rand

Christine Cross is a multisport monster that does many things “like a girl.” She bikes, swims, and runs like a girl. By that we mean she was a 4 year collegiate swimmer at one of America's best colleges, that University Of Michigan.* Now, she puts her extensive swim training to good use as she transitioned into the world of Professional Triathlon.

 *INFINIT CEO and Ohio State Alum, Michael Folan, does not certify that statement about UM, but the author of this article does. Go Blue!

Grace Ragland is the definition of toughness. For over 30 years Grace battled Multiple Sclerosis, and with resiliancy like no other, she became a competitve mountain biker and coach. 

Maddy Frank “bikes like a girl.” By this we mean, Maddy will battle through anything to win races, even a little mud. At age 15 she has already competed in the MTB National Championships, coming in 11th. Maddy is a rising star, and a fierce competitor that has a bright future ahead.

Molly Roohi “tri’s like a girl.” Coming in 4th at Ironman Louisville in 2014, 5th in Memphis that same year, these finishes are just a small sample of her numerous top 5 finishes. Molly, for years, has been at the head of the pack, competing “like a girl.”

Rachel Langdon “pedals like a girl.” Hailing from England, Rachel came to the United States to play soccer in college, then asked herself “and then what?” Because she is such a fierce competitor she has worked her way into becoming a top professional cyclist. Rachel shows the ferocity and the determination to “cycle like a girl.”

Shangrila Rendon, the “Feisty Fox,” embodies the fierceness and the resiliency of a girl. A sexual abuse survivor, Shangrila now competes to raise awareness for underrepresented women and youth. Shangrila takes endurance sports to new extremes. She ran a full Ironman, and then thought “that wasn't enough” and ran five more. She runs like a girl, swims like a girl, and bikes like a girl. She was even the first Filipino person (male OR female) to complete an Ultraman, so yes, she competes “like a girl.”

The “like a girl” statement has been used as a pejorative term for the bulk of human history. But at INFINIT it is something we actually strive for! To us it simply means “Like. A. Boss.” So try and keep up as the fierce women of Team INFINIT continue to dominate their sports, and teach us all what it really means to compete "like a girl."