WOMEN! Support your crit champs...

Hibbs
Hibbs Posts: 291
edited September 2010 in Amateur race
Apparently the womens' crit champs has only 20 entries and the organiser is having to accept EOLs, even though there is a prize fund of £2k!

Not impressive from the women, particularly given the complaints about a lack of press coverage for their events. Money (and legs) where mouth is time! :wink:



Although why is this not run alongside the mens' champs when there is a circuit laid out?

Comments

  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Maybe you could provide a link with more info - for any women that might be interested?
  • Zachariah
    Zachariah Posts: 782
    Are there any women here?
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    Hibbs wrote:
    Apparently the womens' crit champs has only 20 entries and the organiser is having to accept EOLs, even though there is a prize fund of £2k!

    Not impressive from the women, particularly given the complaints about a lack of press coverage for their events. Money (and legs) where mouth is time! :wink:

    Well... It is in a corner of the country, meaning anyone who wants to ride it has a long journey, and even with a midday start an overnight stay for anyone in the south of the country - a week after another overnight stay in the national series.

    It's a crit championships of which only a couple of riders are realistic contenders, the lower categories will get dropped almost immediately, which will likely mean getting pulled out. The mens race isn't a full field either, and that is despite it being teams who pay for the entry fees for a lot of the folk there.

    I agree it's a shame, but with only 33 E/1women in the country, of which 3 are trackies, and 9 purely international riders I'm not sure how many more could really be expected, everyone else would just get a complete hiding which they can get without the expense of a trip to Preston!

    I actually think races without the top elite women would get larger fields - look at the Team Series compared to some National Series races. But the problem there is the BC category system itself which can't make the same distinctions in the much smaller depth of field in womens racing.
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  • warrior4life
    warrior4life Posts: 925
    I completely agree with jibberjim! My girlfriend looked into this when she saw that there was a poor turnout, but was put off by the potential ass whooping infront of huge crowds, as she has only just started out racing. So if there are other women like her, its not for lack of will, but the fact that it's one race whether you are at the top or bottom of the category rankings.
  • maryka
    maryka Posts: 748
    I see both sides of it: one side is that if you're new to the sport, you may be intimidated to race anything labelled as "champs" for fear of being dropped. But on the other hand, if you're pretty fit and have some experience riding with a group, then Hillingdon is the ideal place to try racing for the first time. It's more or less flat, wide and safe, can be windy but with no technical sections. Basically if you're fit enough to hang on, it'll be a great workout and racing experience. There's only one way to find out! :wink:

    To be honest I don't think the standard of this race will be much different or better than most local London races this year (not to be confused with the National Series crit held at Hillingdon in May which had a very strong field as it was a National event). That is, there will be a handful of highly-ranked riders who will cane it on the front, but since it's a flat course there will be a number of fit riders who might not hold a hope of winning but will be able to hang on with some effort. Then there will be another group that goes out the back and (hopefully) races around together and enjoys it regardless.

    So warrior4life, don't let your girlfriend be put off by that and encourage her to come out if she's interested in racing! For one, there will not be "huge crowds" and even if they are, they won't give a damn about the women's race (as it's held before the main event men's e/1/2/3 anyway). And secondly, everyone who's raced has been there and knows the feeling of getting dropped or riding around alone. So there's no shame in that. There will be a whole variety of women there from all cats, so she'll have company no matter how well she does. :D
    http://www.twitter.com/smaryka
  • maryka
    maryka Posts: 748
    Ha ha whoops just realised how old this thread is and how it's about the crits up in Lancashire and not the ones in London... :oops: My bad.

    Nonetheless, tell all your (girl)friends to come out to Hillingdon on Sat Sept 4... it's one of the few women's-only races there of the season and the weather is looking nice. 8)

    http://londoncyclesport.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=100
    http://www.twitter.com/smaryka
  • proto
    proto Posts: 1,483
    My daughter will be there along with one or two other High Wycombe CC riders.

    The event has been poorly marketed. Nothing on the British Cycling website about a Women Only race, only through a chance conversation with Stuart Benstead did we find out about it.
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    proto wrote:
    The event has been poorly marketed. Nothing on the British Cycling website about a Women Only race, only through a chance conversation with Stuart Benstead did we find out about it.

    It wasn't going to be a seperate race originally which is why the lack of marketing of it, Maryka lobbied Stuart to make it a seperate race because she was reasonably sure that they could get enough out to make it viable - let's hope that's true!
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  • proto
    proto Posts: 1,483
    Well, a big thumbs up to Maryka!. Many thanks.

    My daughter rode a 4th Cat men's event at Hillingdon early last year and hated it. She was fast enough (just about, maybe) to hang on the back, but the cut and thrust frightened her to death and she rode at the back, or even off the back, for comfort, and subsequently got dropped. Too timid for another go, she's declined ever since. Nearly got her to ride at Hog Hill a few weeks back, but again lacking confidence, she baled out before the event.

    So, let's see what happens Saturday. :)


    Any idea how many will turn up?
  • proto
    proto Posts: 1,483
    Well, it was great, and my daughter loved it and will be back for more!

    Bonus. I met Maryka. Lovely woman and interesting accent! :)

    Maryka, how would you say it compared with the London Women's Cycle racing League events that have been run this spring/summer? I was surprised a few didn't get away off the front. Daughter was hanging on for grim death at the back, a big effort at the front would have lost a few out the back for sure.
  • maryka
    maryka Posts: 748
    proto wrote:
    Well, it was great, and my daughter loved it and will be back for more!

    Bonus. I met Maryka. Lovely woman and interesting accent! :)

    Maryka, how would you say it compared with the London Women's Cycle racing League events that have been run this spring/summer? I was surprised a few didn't get away off the front. Daughter was hanging on for grim death at the back, a big effort at the front would have lost a few out the back for sure.
    Thanks (I'm Canadian by the way). Glad your daughter enjoyed it! I was pleased at the quality of the riders who turned up yesterday in terms of fitness, there were some really strong riders there. On the other hand, it was clear some of them hadn't ridden a bike much in a group because it was near carnage at times due to the bad handling. If I can recommend anything to the newbie racers, I would beg of them that they do some group rides (with men if need be) so that they feel more comfortable holding their lines around the corners and not cutting people up or switching wheels as they did yesterday. The standard of riding could definitely use some improvement. :(

    We only had 2 other women's-only races this season at Hillingdon, one of which was a National Series event so had a big field with big names and was very quick. Bunch sprint finish there as well, the top sprinters knew they could win from the bunch so never bothered to try to get away, and their teams made sure nobody else did either.

    I wasn't at the other Hillingdon race, but it was a cat 3/4 so probably wasn't super fast. The other crits in the LWCR are held at Crystal Palace and Hog Hill and are tougher as the courses are more technical and hilly, so fitter people and climber types can get away more easily. The road races tended to be more broken up, but they were longer and often hillier, and racing on open roads in a bunch of 40-60 riders is a lot different story to racing with 25 on a closed circuit like Hillingdon.

    Frankly (and this is not a criticism) Hillingdon is just not a tough enough course for a break in a women's field I think (unless someone like Cooke or Pooley shows up, someone who's so much better than everyone else!) It wasn't for lack of trying yesterday, but as I've said in other threads, women's amateur racing is a lot like 4th cat men's racing in that every move is covered, breaks are chased down rather than bridged over to, and most people prefer to race negatively (chasing) than positively (attacking). And none of us really have that awesome jump that gets you 50 yards in 5 seconds away from the bunch before anyone can react.

    Ah well, gives me something to work on, as I'm not a bad sprinter but not a great one so need to find other ways to win at Hillingdon I guess -- or help a teammate win. I do well enough at Palace and Hog Hill, I can't really complain. :wink:

    To be fair, I'd say the bulk of men's races at Hillingdon end in a bunch sprint too, except for the higher cat races where the stronger guys are allowed to get away due to teammates disrupting the chase, etc. This is why it's not a bad place to start racing as you're forced to learn to ride in a bunch -- though of course that does come with the danger of crashing due to people still learning how to ride in a bunch...
    http://www.twitter.com/smaryka
  • proto
    proto Posts: 1,483
    Maryka, any more Women Only races that you know of? There is one in Somerset in October but I can't see anything else.
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    proto wrote:
    Maryka, any more Women Only races that you know of? There is one in Somerset in October but I can't see anything else.

    October 2nd there's another at Hillingdon

    http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/events ... Hillingdon

    Shrewsbury on Sep 18th
    http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/events ... it-Races-3

    Portsmouth on Sept 12th
    http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/events ... d-Circuits

    And there's one big open road race, but I suspect that's a full field already.
    http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/events ... -Road-Race
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  • maryka
    maryka Posts: 748
    proto wrote:
    Maryka, any more Women Only races that you know of? There is one in Somerset in October but I can't see anything else.

    The BC calendar often changes/updates, but since the new website they've managed to make women's-only races fairly searchable which is a good thing.

    Go to http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/events/list (make sure Road ALL is selected under Dsicpline) then under the drop-down Event/Race Classification, scroll down to Women Only. You can refine the search further but since there so few women's-only races it's not hard to go through them all.

    For ones that have already happened (but will happen next year again hopefully), do the same with http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/results/list
    http://www.twitter.com/smaryka
  • Toks
    Toks Posts: 1,143
    At Regents Park a couple of summers ago, this woman blasted past our six man group. We were taking steady turns at 22/23mph and it took a couple of laps to reel her back. I cajoled her into joining our group rotation and she complied nervously. Her bunch skills needed honing but I knew she was destined for good things. 2nd in the Women's London Crit Championships :wink: - well done Liz. 8) 8) :D I'm glad we haven't lost you to the dark side yet :wink:

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