Women push hard for road race place
FEMALE CYCLISTS IN CAIRNS ARE HOPING TO GET THEIR OWN DIVISION IN THE TOUR OF THE TROPICS
WOMEN will ride in the Tour of the Tropics next week but it is Kylie Anderson’s hope they’ll soon have their own division at the annual event.
The Tour of the Tropics was recently revived, and will this year kick off Cycling Australia’s National Road Series and traditional tours season.
The elite competition attracts the best male cyclists from across the country for a series of races in different parts of Australia, including the Tweed Valley, Great South Coast, and Tasmania.
For women like Anderson and the Cairns Women’s Cycling Team, they will start the two-day tour in D-grade.
While they fully expect to be dropped early by the field, Anderson and her team’s goal is simply to ride together, finish the Tour, and start a movement for the introduction of a women’s class.
“These events can be quite intimidating, and in the past they’ve been dominated by male riders and that’s fine, it’s the nature of the beast,” Anderson said.
“But there are women who are interested, but don’t have the courage or the capacity to step into the competitive side of things. There’s a lot of social women’s cycling groups in town, but we wanted to create a supportive environment for those who want to take it to the next level.”
Tour organiser Damien Ingram said the event would benefit from a women’s division provided there was enough competition.
The best female riders will be rewarded across each of the divisions, with a view to introducing substantial women’s fields in future iterations of the NRS event provided there is enough interest, and a competitive field.
“The NRS is a men’s race, but the other grades are mixed gender,” Ingram said. “The difficulty is getting enough numbers for it to be competitive.”
A women’s division is a clear goal for future iterations of the Tour of the Tropics, but for now the A-D grade races are not gender-specific.
Anderson said some Cairns Cycling Club races, both on the track and in criteriums, are run as women’s only divisions. In some cases they share the road with male riders, but are races against other women.
“That makes a big difference to us in terms of our confidence,” Anderson said. “We’re still quite new to racing.
“The Tour is a fabulous initiative and the organisers are doing a great job, but if they want it to be a success it has to be more inclusive.”