The 22-year-old is one of few women who compete in the male dominated Kenya National Motocross Championship.
Since 2013, when she was introduced to the sport by her father at the age of 13 years, her star has been steadily rising.
During her debut that year, Maxine was already a good rider, having gained experience racing against her cousins and friends on motocross bikes.
Not surprising, she was named the Lady Rider of the Year.
Motocross is a sport that calls for concentration, the ability to make split-second decisions and try to outmanoeuvre fellow riders at high speed.
One little mistake and the rider might roll, cause an accident or hurt herself, fellow competing riders and even the spectators.
That is why it is a sport for the most daring and those who have faith in themselves.
The sport calls for grit and aggression, which is why it’s boys who mostly prosper in it.
However, since her father Jimmy Wahome noticed her interest in riding and told her to give it a try, Maxine has never looked back.
She says that she developed interest in the sport from the time she was a little girl and she would go to see her cousin Ngugi Waweru training in Jamhuri Park, Nairobi.
Her love for riding was sealed after watching international championships on television and playing video games of the sport. “At the time, I never thought I could compete. I thought it was a boy’s sport. However, my father and cousins challenged me to try it, and I fell in love with riding,” says Maxine.
Maxine says that motocross is a tough sport, and racing with boys throughout the year is challenging because they are naturally very aggressive and very strong.
So, she has to keep in shape and train a lot. She trains with her cousins Tai Wahome, Neo Wahome, Dylan Mutahi, Kigen Kiplagat and Nandi Kiplagat, another lady rider, on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Since she won Lady Rider of the Year in 2013, Maxine has been giving her rivals, chiefly men, a run for their money.
In 2014 she was named the Motorsports Personality of the Year (Rose Bowl).
The same year, she was again named the Lady rider of the Year, a confirmation she was a force to reckon with in the sport.
In 2014 and 2015, she was ranked sixth and seventh respectively in the Kenya National Championship.
In 2016, she was ranked third in the African Nations Ladies Championship.
Back home, she improved her ranking the following year in the national championship moving up to fourth position.
In 2017, she was for the third time in her motoring career named the Lady Rider of the Year and improved her ranking to third in the national championship.
She competed in the Women Motocross Championships in Harare, Zimbabwe finishing ninth.
This year’s national championships has, like most other sports, been scuttled by the coronavirus disease but Maxine hopes to perform even better when the competition is eventually held.
“My ambition is to become the national champion and, hopefully, to win medals for Kenya in international competitions,” says Maxine.
The speeding daredevil is a teacher at International School.
Maxine likes challenges, and this year she made her debut in the autocross, another sport dominated by men.
She finished fourth in her debut race held at Waterfront, Karen in Nairobi on February 23.
It is also a tough sport, where precision matters a lot. Competitors seem like stuntmen and women as they soar high in the air while tackling bumpy tracks and tricky corners.
“I would like to encourage more girls and ladies in Kenya to join motocross and autocross. Those of us who have been in it have proved that we can be as good as the boys,” said Maxine.
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