Alise Willoughby

A former state champion gymnast, track and field athlete, a full-time student while simultaneously rising through the BMX Racing ranks, Alise Willoughby (maiden Post) became the first woman ever voted Rookie Pro of the Year by BMXer Magazine, as well as the youngest competitor to win the USA BMX Professional Series at 15 years old. In 2014, Willoughby won her 3rd USA BMX Women’s Pro Series title in Tulsa, the same year her mother passed away from late-stage melanoma cancer, as chronicled in the film “Every Pedal With You” that followed Willoughby’s 2014 competition season. She won her 10th USA BMX Women’s Pro title in 2022. Also in Tulsa, she captured her 11th USA Cycling National Championship in April 2023. Throughout her career, Willoughby has endured multiple surgeries, including an LCL, knee and hamstring reconstruction one year prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games, and a broken tibia plateau 12 weeks before medaling at the 2014 World Championships. Along with her mother’s passing and injury record, Willoughby has faced further life-changing adversity when her (now) husband, Sam Willoughby, suffered a C6 Spinal Cord Injury with permanent paralysis as a tetraplegic just weeks after the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She understands the impact mobility has on people’s everyday lives. Following the incident, Sam put his coaching hat on and has been at Alise’s side through two World Championship titles and the Tokyo Olympic Games. The pair continue to impact lives globally on and off the track. Notably, the feature-length documentary ‘RIDE: A Brutal Fairytale’ premiered in late 2022, sharing powerful messaging on love, community, disability, perseverance, and strength. Willoughby and her family are the driving force behind Pineview Park BMX in St. Cloud, Minnesota, which helped transform a vandalized city park into one of the top BMX facilities in the country over 25+ years of volunteer effort.