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Location: Powys, Wales
Event: 13 October 2012
A record-breaking 33 women turned up to race at BikeWorks 2 English Champs last weekend.
GirlMTNbiker joined with Borderline events to support the girls at the English Champs on October 13-14, held at Moelfre Hall near Oswestry. A record-breaking 31 women (more ladies than any mainstream mixed downhill race here in the UK has seen) came along for a weekend of riding and racing.
GirlMTNbiker Ambassadors, experienced female racers, helped make the event accessible to newer riders, talked through the track on a bright and early track walk and were around to offer any support and tips for those who are only just taking their first steps into racing. Supporting the girls this weekend was Rosie Smith, who raced the Fort William World Cup this year; Emma Whittaker, currently ranked 1st junior female nationally; Jess Greaves, who races on the 4 cross circuit nationally as well as internationally and Traharn Chidley, a regular on the UK race scene who’s been hitting up the Nationals this year.
The attitude of the organisers and other racers was very supportive throughout the weekend and the girls held their own, getting on and accepting the challenge offered to them. Despite rain throughout the weekend which made the track conditions less than favourable.
We believe that this is only the beginning. After meeting the girls that took part and raced, we expect this event will become a landmark to look back. Feedback so far has been fantastic; people enjoyed the weekend and its challenges. Most agreed that entering a race helped them to meet a lot of new and great people to ride with. Others felt that knowing there’s definitely going to be a good female turn out helped inspire them to try racing when they would otherwise have been less inclined to. But all the girls of every level were really pleased and proud to be a part of history, with so many taking part and all are looking forward to seeing even more new faces at races in the future.
Results
Junior Women
1 Emma Whitaker 3:24.17
2 Charlotte Hughes 3:24.76
3 Lauren Beaty 3:36.66
Senior Women
1 Rosie Smith 3:16.42
2 Jenna Woodruff 3:20.50
3 Traharn Chidley 3:24.07
Master Women
1 Hanna Maehn 4:09.54
2 Kath Pickard 4:11.04
3 Lucy Newman 4:14.01
British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs.
