Cindy Devine is a legend in Canadian mountain biking, and the former Maple Ridge resident will be recognized with an induction into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
The world class cyclist will be inducted alongside soccer icon Christine Sinclair, NHL player and now hockey broadcaster Ray Ferraro, broadcaster Jim Hughson, and others in the class of 2025.
"Of course I'm humbled and honoured," said Devine from her home in Rossland. "My first words were 'How did that happen?' I'm really surprised."
She was already inducted into the World Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2003, as one of Canada鈥檚 great early mountain bikers, and the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame in 2021.
Devine won the first-ever official UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) world downhill mountain bike championship in 1990 at Durango, Colorado. Only two Canadian women have ever won this title.
In addition, she won world championship bronze medals in 1991 in Ciocco, Italy, and again in 1992 in Bromont, Quebec. Devine also finished in the top five at the world championships in 1993 and 1994, and won gold in downhill and bronze in slalom at the unofficial world mountain bike championships in 1989.
Devine was a five-time undefeated Canadian national downhill mountain bike champion from 1990 to 1994, and a three-time US National downhill mountain biking champion in 1990, 1992, and 1994.
Other big wins include the Dodge 鈥楧esert to Sea鈥� 150-mile mountain bike race from Palm Springs to San Diego in 1989, and she was a three-time champion of the Mammoth Kamikaze downhill race in Mammoth Lakes, California, 1989-91.
Devine was born in Venezuela, and her family moved to North Vancouver, and then to the Ruskin area. They lived in an Airstream trailer while her father built a log cabin in the rural area of Maple Ridge, and his daughter spent her high school years at Garibaldi secondary.
She would ride her horse everywhere, and credits standing in her stirrups and jumping for preparing her to race mountain bikes.
"I learned the kinesiology of mountain biking without realizing it," she said. "What prepared me for being a mountain biker was being a horse rider."
Devine also took long road trips on her bike as a teen, riding to beaches in Vancouver and building up endurance. And she credits her love of sports and training to two mentors and coaches from her high school years 鈥� Steve Rodgman and Linda Bent. She did every sport, and the girls on the basketball and volleyball teams in particular were like a second family to her.
In university Devine was doing long cycling tours, with the first taking her from Prince Rupert and back. Over the next few years, she decided to tackle tours in Fiji, the Cook Islands and New Zealand where she lived for three years.
"These were things that happened to cultivate a champion, who didn't know she was becoming a champion," said Devine.
She graduated in 1977, and was named a Maple Ridge at a banquet in 2017.
Devine has lived in the Kootenays for over 30 years, and she still bikes a lot, using an early E-bike, which has a small engine and still demands a lot of pedal power.
"I can't even keep up to my other friends' E-Bikes," she said.
The BC Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be honoured at an induction gala in May.
"I've got lots ot time to come with the right things to say."
