Costa strikes balance between academics and sport

STRIKING the right balance between pursuit of a professional cycling career and maintaining the required focus to complete a BSc in Business Management, is no ride in the park.

So says Alexi Costa, arguably one of TT’s most outstanding and rising female cyclists, who is currently swamped with a demanding academic workload, but is also eager to begin a lucrative pro contract with American road team, CWA Professional Women’s Racing in 2020.

Having recently represented the red, white and black at the 2019 World Cycling Championships Road Race (London), Tobago International Cycling Classic, Beacon Cycling on the Avenue and a lengthy list of other top-flight endurance races, Costa still finds the time to prioritise her academic prowess. The reigning Caribbean Road and Time Trial champion is wholly intent on becoming a successful cyclist, but revealed her academic development may be just as, or even more crucial to her all-round development.

“It’s hard to balance school and my cycling because this level of education can weigh on you. Sometimes I even have to sacrifice a day of training to stay home and study for exams. The reason I’m pursuing an education as well is because cycling is an extremely hard sport. Not everyone will make it to the top so I want to be able to have something to fall back on in case cycling as a career doesn’t work out for me. As well as the fact that if I do make it to the top level, I would race for the amount of years my body would be capable of and then when I am ready to retire from cycling, I want to be able to earn a living on my own,” she explained.

After graduating out of the International School of Port-of-Spain in 2013, Costa completed an Associates in Applied Science Degree Programme in Hospitality Management, at the TT Hospitality and Tourism Institute (2013-2015). She then completed a similar course in management at Roytec and then opted to further pursue her degree in Business Management. Currently, Costa is in her penultimate semester at the tertiary institution and is expected complete her final set of courses in March next year.

While her academic growth is booming, so is Costa’s cycling career. Having been announced as one of CWA Professional Women Racing’s latest additions, Costa is also gearing up for an intense developmental trip to Colombia in early December. There she will undergo six weeks of off-season training, at an elevated altitude, then head to the US, in February, for another training block with her new teammates.

“I prefer to train at altitude because the air is 'thinner' meaning there are fewer oxygen molecules per volume of air. Every breath taken at a high altitude delivers less of what working muscles require and it also increases your red blood cells. To pursue a career in cycling, for me, this is what I have to do. It’s no easy task. I just want to be better, both academically and professionally as an athlete,” she added.

And although attaining a spot at sport’s biggest stage – Olympic Games – is every athletes dream, Costa is taking it one ride at a time.

She continued, “Cycling is extremely dangerous and you can suffer from an injury at any given time. What if I get an injury and can never ride my bike again? My education would definitely be an asset at that time. However, I remain optimistic and hope to continue surpassing my personal sporting objectives. I will definitely give the 2024 Olympic campaign a shot while attempting to secure a position for myself in World Tour races.”