Cycling career
Leigh Donovan is a retired American professional mountain bike racer and coach. From 1992 to 2001, she was among the most decorated U.S. downhill and slalom riders, winning the UCI Downhill World Championship in Germany in 1995 and capturing nine USA Cycling National Championship titles over the course of her career. She concluded her professional racing career at the 2001 UCI World Championships in Vail, Colorado, where she placed third in the downhill.
After retiring, Donovan transitioned into sports marketing with Hansen’s Energy (later rebranded as Monster Energy). In 2002, she founded and operated Tangerine, a clothing boutique in Temecula, California, which she managed for nearly a decade. The store thrived during its first several years before closing in 2011 following changes in the retail market after the 2008–2009 economic downturn.
In 2010, nine years after her retirement and at the age of 38, Donovan made a return to competition. Balancing training with raising her five-year-old daughter and running her retail store, she earned fourth place at the USA Cycling National Championships, securing a spot on the U.S. National Downhill Team. At the UCI World Championships in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, she finished eighth, making her the top-placed American and the oldest competitor in the field. During the opening ceremonies, she and her daughter carried the U.S. flag. As of 2025, Donovan remains the last American Elite Downhill rider to win a UCI World Championship, with her 1995 gold medal marking the end of a three-decades drought for the United States in the discipline.
Donovan married her longtime partner and race mechanic, Craig “Stikman” Glaspell, in 2000; the couple has one daughter. Since retiring, she has become a respected coach and advocate for the sport, hosting clinics and events for riders of all levels, with a special focus on women’s programs. In 2014, she founded iChooseBikes, a skills-based coaching business dedicated to helping riders of all ages and abilities develop strong foundations and confidence on the bike.
From 2022 to 2023, Donovan worked with SRAM as the senior sales representative for Southern California, overseeing accounts across Southern California and Southern Nevada and working directly with more than 150 retailers. Her role focused on sales and marketing support for the company’s cycling products. She left the position in July 2023.
She remains the only cyclist, male or female, to be inducted into all three major U.S. cycling halls of fame: the USA BMX Hall of Fame, the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame, and the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame.
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Norba National Championship (9 Wins)
