“From that point forward, I was addicted. I just absolutely loved motorcycles. I took training courses, I went to racing schools. I was just so obsessed with it, it really made me wish that I had started racing at a much younger age, discovering it when I was five or six like most of the MotoGP guys do.
“When eSC came about, I was like, “This is it! This is my chance to get into racing!”
Rand’s mind isn’t just on purely racing matters though. She first began to make the push for diversity in her modelling career, and is now taking strength from the fact that eSC is in line with those values.
“That’s actually probably the biggest reason why I wanted to be a part of eSC,” she says. “In the modelling world, I really started to put my foot down in a big way, saying I refused to work for brands that are not going to have genuine diversity in their campaigns and allow me to have my natural African hair style.
“I used to have a lot of clients that wanted to straighten my hair, loosen the curls or wear wigs to be more caucasian looking and accommodate their vision – they wanted diversity in their campaigns, but they didn’t want me to really be me.
“I said: “I’m sorry, is the natural version of me not palatable for you or your customer?'”
Moving into eSC, Rand has found herself on the same page as the championship and its outlook.
“eSC is super passionate about making sports accessible”
“When I started working with eSC, I began to understand its vision and realising that it’s super passionate about making sports accessible, so that people that don’t come from super wealthy backgrounds can actually have a chance getting into it. We have so many racing series that are just so expensive to get into and ESC is one of the first that’s actually reasonably affordable.
“In doing my research on eSC, I was like: ‘This is so freakin’ cool, they’ve created a sport that is genuinely inclusive, it’s gender diverse, it’s racially diverse, is really wanting to change the way that motorsport is run and create something that’s going to encourage people to consider micro-mobility in cities.'”
Now she’s become accustomed to the scooter used in eSC, Rand says she finds that riding experience more rewarding than riding one of her superbikes.
“I honestly think it is more satisfying in a way, because it’s more work,” she says. “Because you’re standing, the amount of fatigue that you feel in your legs coming off the scooter is unbelievable – they feel like jello.
“On a motorcycle yes, you feel fatigued, but it’s not like to the point where you’re gonna fall over by the end of the day!
Rand – a former figure skater and track athlete – says the physical demands of the scooter are huge
eSkootr
“Everyone has different riding styles, but I switch my feet position in every corner, which is difficult on a moving platform.”
However, a chance meeting with a specialist in the field has helped Rand to work on this aspect.
“I actually bumped into George Russell in a gym, and he works with an athlete fitness company called Altum,” she explains.
