Heather VanValkenburg
Where are the ladies...?
It would be interesting to see the ratio of cat 1/2 men registered compared
to the total members as well, just to see if the actual ratio is close. The
fact is, there are just less women racers, right?
In October- December, the is only one discipline to race: CROSS, so
everyone races cross, regardless of their preferred discipline. In February
and March there is essentially one discipline to race- ROAD. As the year
ticks on, more opportunities open up. The mountain bikers do mountain bike
races, the time trial specialists do time trials, the track riders, focus
on the track races, and the triathletes begin to focus on this training.
This might answer WHERE some of the ladies are.
This is bound to ruffle a feather or two, so please know that my intention
is not to offend anyone...
When I first started racing, I did EVERYING. I did every road race, every
track race (even every time trial- good God.) If things went well, I did
the race the next year. If things didn't go well, I'd try the race the next
year to give it another chance. Just racing was exciting enough.... After a
few years, I learned what races I liked and what I didn't. The novelty of
just racing wore off, and I would do races suited to me....
I think some women, after 4...5...11 years of racing get a
"been-there-done-that" attitude. They pick and choose races they want to
do. They lose interest in every race, and instead decide on a few races, or
like the job of helping teammates. Or just prefer to not travel to as many
races.
"But there are so many Seattle area women racers!" Yes. There are also more
people in the Seattle area.
I'm not sure that this response offers any solution to the low numbers, but
hopefully explains a little of why and where... the ladies are (or aren't.)
On Fri, May 4, 2012 at 8:25 AM, Candi Murray wrote:
> Ladies****
>
> I have been in discussion with a couple of races about which fields to
> offer. One event had the time allowed on course cut by the approving park
> and started to trim all fields that have had a small showing in the past.
> Out went Fixed Gear and Tandems. The next smallest field was the women
> 1/2/3.****
>
> We in OBRA are trying to encourage new riders, trying to encourage race
> organizers to offer events for the Cat 4 and Cat 5 riders to get them into
> the sport. And now that those fields are growing to split the Women 3 out.
> But how can we grow the sport if the riders at the very top are not turning
> out?****
>
> This week there is a new road race, I just checked pre registration and
> currently there are 1 Cat