Them Superlatives: Team Iron Transmasc Is Our “Dream Team”
For our Pride series, Olympic athlete Nikki Hiltz honors Schuyler Bailar, Chella Man, and Cal Calamia.
By Them
Courtesy of the subjects
Them Superlatives are awards for our favorite people made up by our favorite people.
To honor Team Iron Transmasc — composed of Schuyler Bailar, Chella Man, and Cal Calamia — with the title of “Dream Team,” we asked nonbinary Olympic runner Nikki Hiltz to write a tribute to their achievement.
In March, the trio took third place at the 2026 Athletic Brewing Ironman 70.3 Oceanside competition, beating over 200 other teams.
Read Hiltz’s letter to the team below:
Schuyler, Chella, and Cal,
Congratulations on your podium finish at one of the toughest endurance events in the world! An Ironman podium is no joke. Beyond the months of training, sacrifice, and trust in your fellow teammates, a performance like that requires so much heart and grit. And it’s no surprise to me that you three embody those qualities so well.
Team Iron Transmasc represents so much to so many. Sometimes in sports, believing you can do something is supported by seeing someone else do it first. And when that someone looks like you, shares the same identity, pronouns, hairstyle, or top surgery scars, it can ignite a hope and fire to believe in yourself, and chase your dreams like never before.
As a nonbinary and endurance athlete myself, it was very special to see three out and proud transmasculine athletes execute a fantastic team effort and earn a podium performance together.
Thank you for your visibility and representation, and for inspiring me and so many others to believe that there’s a place for transmasculine people on podiums in endurance sports and beyond. — Nikki Hiltz
A Transmasc Ironman Trio Won Third Place in a Relay, Beating Over 200 Other Teams
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Courtesy of Keeley Parenteau
Congratulations are in order for Team Iron Transmasc, who won third place at the 2026 Athletic Brewing Ironman 70.3 Oceanside competition.
On Saturday, March 28, Team Iron Transmasc nabbed the third place spot in an ironman competition, a team sport that includes swimming, bike riding, and running. The team included champion trans swimmer Schuyler Bailar, deaf nonbinary cyclist Chella Man, and trans nonbinary marathoner Cal Calamia.
In an Instagram post celebrating their win, the trio wrote that they wanted to compete “without losing our love of the sport and synchronizing as friends.”
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They continued, “In a world that is increasingly hostile toward trans people with an undue emphasis on athletics, we came together to showcase trans excellence, trans collaboration, and trans joy.”
The trio said they competed “for every person disenfranchised by transphobia, white supremacy, ableism, colonialism. For Palestinians, Iranians, Sudanese, Congolese. For every human’s right to exist exactly as we are, everywhere we are.”
The trio bested over 200 other teams to win their third place victory, per Out.
As part of the caption, the champions also pointed out that their victory took place just a few days after the IOC banned trans women from competition in female events.
“Sports are a human right of which so many people are deprived,” they wrote.
Bailar spoke further about trans participation in sports in an interview with Out given prior to the trio’s victory.
“One of the reasons that the recent IOC decision is so devastating is because it sends a message that sports are going to lead through discrimination, as opposed to being on a progressive way of moving humanity forwards, which is what they should be doing,” Bailar said.
Calamia told Out that the trio “kind of crushed it.” The running portion of the race was the third leg of the competition. Calamia said that, in their final moments, they passed a runner to nab a podium spot.
“There was a runner that was also competing in the relay that I passed at the very, very end of the whole thing, within the last 10 meters,” they said. “I had to close the deal. There was no part of me that would quit. And we got that spot on the men’s podium! It was amazing!”
Each competitor included a visual signifier of their trans identity on their uniform, Calamia mentioned. They had a trans flag on their running shorts, Schuyler had trans-colored goggles and Chella had a sign that said “bodies are not bans.”
Calamia said the trio have their eyes on future competitions, as well. “We’re already talking about what we’re going to do next,” they said. “We want to scale this up and get more trans athletes doing relays like this. We’re just excited to keep inspiring people and providing a counterweight to the other conversations about trans athletes.”
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