Event Recap: The first annual She Shreds Legacy event out of Whitefish, MT proves the future is bright for women’s freeride.

This week, on the side of a mountain outside of Whitefish, Montana, thirty-five women gathered for the first annual She Shreds Legacy. The event was a combination registration and invitational event for female freeriders focused on progression, community building, and visibility; the goal was to create a space where participants could network, learn from each other, and both be and see the representation needed in a historically male-dominated sport.

That, and having some really absurd fun.

She Shreds Legacy was co-founded by Kaytlyn Laree and Heather Hilton. The event’s first seeds, they say, were planted two years ago at Legacy Bike Park’s inaugural Lift Off event. “I was the only girl signed up,” Heather says, so she asked Kaytlyn to join her. “There were about 30 guys on a party train, and it was just me and her,” Heather says of the experience—which left both girls with the same thought: There should have been more.

The sun is setting on the “there’s only room for one” era in women’s freeride, tell your friends.

Photo: Ariel Kazunas

So in 2023, after Heather landed a leadership role at Legacy and Kaytlyn was invited to compete in athlete KaJay Rooke’s East Coast women’s freeride event, Thunderstruck, the roots of She Shreds Legacy really started to grow deeper. “I didn’t really know any of the women,” Kaytlyn says of her journey to Massachusetts. “And I didn’t know how I was going to fit in next to them, so it was really intimidating. But I have that ‘send’ button inside of me, so I committed—and it ended up being a really transformative experience.”

Kaytlyn says her experience at Thunderstruck, as well as her participation in the Alex Showerman Foundation Freeride event, got her thinking. “How many women would trust their instincts and accept an invitation like the one I received? I was really inspired to figure out how to marry the two types of events, invitational and registration, to bridge the gap a little bit so that women of all levels can ride with some of the best athletes in the industry right now.”

Kaytlyn Laree with She Shreds Legacy 2024 swag and style.

Photo: Ariel Kazunas

Heather says Kaytlyn’s thoughts aligned perfectly with her desire to host a women’s event at Legacy Bike Park. “It was so cool to see what an invitational event like Thunderstruck can do for someone’s confidence,” she says as she watches Kaytlyn walk back from the event. “Her career has taken off, she’s been able to make all these amazing connections and go on all these amazing bike trips with all these awesome women.”

“I had never done a women’s event before,” Heather admits. “I’m new to cycling—I’ve been riding for six years—and I’m new to the bike industry, so Kaytlyn really spearheaded the invitational initiative. But I knew I wanted to do a women’s event.” Heather explains that part of that desire came from her experience at Lift Off, and part of it came from the fact that women were underrepresented on Legacy Bike Park’s social media. “I think there was only one post of a girl riding and it was a kid—and while it’s great to see girls of all abilities riding, there are also women out there who are kicking ass, and I wanted to promote that more.”

Guest athlete Barbara Edwards couldn’t agree more. “I think it’s important to have women-only events. We need to show young girls how to look at the sport in a less intimidating way. Also, these grassroots events bring the women’s community together and help raise awareness of that community in the larger mountain biking community. We’ll see more of these women at Rampage in the years to come,” she says confidently, hinting that she too has her sights set on a spot in the starting gate one day.

Linda Costain, the matriarch of one of the four families that own Legacy, shared Bab’s enthusiasm. “I’m not as cool as most of my family,” she says, referring to people like her son, professional athlete Parkin Costain, “but I love the atmosphere. It’s so nice to see you all here,” she adds, looking around the crowded shuttle on the bumpy ride back to another ride on Onyx or Bluetiful from the summit. “It’s usually just guys.”

And Aspen Payne, 8, 40 pounds, whose bike is so small it has to be loaded separately onto a tailgate rack above the shuttle rail instead of onto the Huckwagon trailer behind it, is equally adamant that riding with girls is simply different (i.e., better) than riding with boys: “Boys are more bossy and girls are more toe-to-toe,” she says with wide, earnest eyes, as her brother next to her nudges her in protest.

Aspen Payne, winner of the 2024 She Shreds Legacy Rider’s Choice Award, bangs fists after another sick send over the mulch jump.

Photo: Ariel Kazunas

This common thread between each She Shreds participant’s different experiences proves how necessary—and appreciated—the space the event creates is. Each participant found themselves both representing someone and seeing in someone else the person they needed to see in that space. “It was really cool to have Brooklyn here,” says Erin Devault, a participant of professional skier and mountain biker Brooklyn Bell, as proof positive. “I just don’t get to ride with as many other women on bikes, and I’d like to change that.” Erin says she’s especially grateful when these kinds of encounters happen, especially at the higher levels of her sport, where she sometimes wonders whether her presence is based on a perceived skill level or harmful tokenization.

Brooklyn Bell demonstrates either the bike technique or the high five technique in front of a captivated audience.

Photo: Ariel Kazunas

Tania Lillak, 53, tells us that Heather and Kaytlyn have made it big with She Shreds Legacy: “My son was my inspiration. We went to Highland in New Hampshire, and after that, he didn’t really want to go horseback riding anymore, he just wanted to go down the hills. So we would go as a family and he would follow me sometimes and say, ‘Mom, why don’t you jump?’ and I would say, ‘Well, because I’m old,’ and he would say, ‘Well, just try to do little jumps.’ So I did and of course, I was hooked.”

Tania says the more time she spent at Highland, the more the previously insurmountable obstacles began to appear. “I started doing bigger stuff, but there’s a lot of guys there.” Tania says she began to wonder why none of the women were taking on Highland’s slopestyle course, for example. “So we got a group of women together, I think three summers ago, and we went down there and did some sessions. And we were so happy and so excited.”

And while Tania thought it was a finish line, it was actually a starting gate. “They started having competitions, so I was like, ‘Well, I guess I have to do them!’ and then they were like, ‘It’s not just about doing the slopestyle course, you have to do tricks!’” she laughs. “So I guess I’ll just keep doing it until I feel like I can’t do it.”

Tania Lillak, 53, shows guts on Sparkles.

Photo: Ariel Kazunas

Tania explains that she joined She Shreds because she likes the fact that the goal is different from a competitive event. “We bond a lot and motivate each other, it’s not stressful. At that point, you either improve yourself, or you look to other people for inspiration.”

She cites Legacy Bike Park’s main jump line, Jammer, as an example: “If I was here by myself, and I was watching Jammer and I didn’t have other women to inspire me, I’d be like, ‘I’m not sure about this…’” But because she says the goal of an event like She Shreds is to create a space for people to try new things in a supportive environment (and because she doesn’t have to worry about another group of riders coming down the trials on her with the frustration that riders new to the trail might be “in her way”), she’s found herself tackling—and eventually even tricking—features she might not have otherwise.

“For me, that’s what’s cool about these events. It IS different from looking at women who are riding and saying, ‘If they can do it, I can do it.’ I think that’s the whole point and why I keep riding: I feel like some people are like, ‘If Tania can do it, then I can do it.’”

Stay tuned for more She Shreds content, including athlete interviews, participant profiles and event footage to follow.