[NCNCA] Women's Races

[Meredith Obendorfer]

A couple issues at work here, folks:
   
  1. There are simply less competitive women cyclists. Period. So hopes of getting 100 women signed up for any one race is unfortunately unlikely in the near future. Even in the region with the most licensed racers in the country.
   
  2. I can't understate the women's 3/4 issue. Because there is no Cat5 for women (evidently it's been said that our region can support it, but others can't), running a Cat3/4 race for women is like running a 3/4/5 race for men... you'd never race men's 3s with the 5's. Give a moments thought to what that would be like as a 3 or as a 5. Dangerous, boring or on the flip side, too challenging. Additionally, Cat's Hill is a hard and technical race, which makes the disparity between the two categories even larger.
   
  3. Personally, if I'm not sure I'm going to make a race, I don't pre-register because I know my field won't fill. There are exceptions to this rule... races like Snelling (there were TWO womens Cat4 fields this year), San Ardo and the Giro. Why? Because these are important (and some of the "easier") races of the season. Want to make your race important to the women in the area? Consider asking Brooke Kuhn, who runs the BAWC series, to make your race a series race (which also means offering seperate Cat 3 and Cat4 races). You should see incremental increases in women's participation. 
   
  But the responsibility lies with us as well. As the women's road manager for Roaring Mouse, I encourage all our women who will be racing to pre-register for races. You'll notice an increase in our women lately not only in numbers but for pre-registering as well. Solutions like Lorri mentioned-- higher price for those who register later-- also may do the trick. 
   
  I understand your frustration, but instead of sending an inflammatory email to the community, what would be helpful is to send an email to the heads of the bay area women's cycling community -- folks like Brooke, Lorri, Soni, myself, Sabine Dukes, and Evan Evans -- saying "hey! pre-register please!" as it'd be much better received. Let me know if you want our direct email addresses, we'd be happy you're considering to reaching out to us. We'd, in turn, would tell our women to "get on it." We don't need hand holding (especially if we're going to bitch about a particular race), but with limited numbers and a long season, it helps to consider that you catch more bees with honey than vinegar. Just glad to see a dialogue is in place though.

  Thanks again, and on a personal note, I'll suck it up knowing I may get dropped racing with the 3's on Saturday simply because I want to continue seeing a lower category field at Cat's Hill through the years. Just don't pull me please.
   
  thanks,
  Meredith (Mo)
  Team Roaring Mouse