I don't mean to make people mad
but maybe I will. Or maybe people don't care. Or maybe they do. I guess I'll find out.
Two of the Planet Bike WCA CX Series races will not be offering equal prize money for the women. I'm quite frustrated by this as after quite a number of years of equity we've now taken a step backwards. In the case of Grafton they are a new race and I will give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they were confused or unaware or something. Velo Trocadero were part of a discussion among the promoters that took place early this year about the issue which I thought had been resolved that the WCA races would continue the tradition of equality. Turns out I was wrong. Unfortunately as the WCA Cyclocross Liaison there is nothing I can do as WCA only makes recommendations for categories, start times, payouts, etc. So that means that as the CX Liaison I will be spending those two race days doing something else besides going to the cross races.
However, as the person who pays the bills and does the updates for madcross.org I will not be providing any coverage of those races as that is the only leverage I have. Obviously plenty of other people will take photos and shoot video at those races and people will still get their weekly cross fix. My photos and videos are not nearly at the level of the people coming out these days anyway so it's probably not a huge loss. However, I won't be providing links to those sites so people will have to find them on their own. Maybe someone will be upset with me and set up a competing website called wiscocross.org or something. Maybe people will agree with me and there will be an overwhelming call for equality in prizes for the women in our series. Maybe people won't even notice the lack of coverage. Maybe the promoters made an innocent mistake and will change things for 2010. I don't know.
I probably should talk to the promoters about why they made this change but I haven't had the energy and time and that is why I'm looking for a replacement for the WCA cx liaison job next year. I just don't have time to do the job justice and clearly we need someone with more time to invest in the job. Anyway, I plan to write something up to put on madcross later this week about the lack of coverage but thought I would mention it here first. I already mentioned it on Facebook and Twitter as soon as I saw the flyers so it's not a secret.
Frankly after 20 years of working on this issue I can't believe we still have to battle over equal prize money. It is 2009 or 1899? However, I know people are sick of me talking about it so listen to Georgia and Katerina instead.
And yes, I do realize that perhaps it is hypocritical of me since the USGP only pays equal to the top 3 elite women and I'm one of the Regional Directors now in that series. I had a big chat with them about the issue before John and I agreed to give our races over to the series. However, it's not like the USGP used to pay equal beyond the top 3 and they stopped. Instead I've been working very closely with them to increase the equality beyond top 3 for all 8 of the races and I have hopes that we can make an improvement next year.
Anyway, this weekend I'm going up to Hayward to do some mountain biking since I won't be at the cross race. Luckily I got into see Lee at Unwin Wellness & Chiropractic this morning and my back is feeling much better. I'm going to try and take it easy for a few more days in hopes that I recover fully and don't have any more muscle spasms. However, after my appointment with Lee I was super psyched to finally feel like I could stand up straight and did not have to hunch over because my back was so tight and sore. I'm hoping this means I will be feeling good and can get in some riding this weekend and maybe a little rollerskiing too. Then hopefully I will be back to cross racing for the Cam-Rock/Badger Prairie double weekend!
Two of the Planet Bike WCA CX Series races will not be offering equal prize money for the women. I'm quite frustrated by this as after quite a number of years of equity we've now taken a step backwards. In the case of Grafton they are a new race and I will give them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they were confused or unaware or something. Velo Trocadero were part of a discussion among the promoters that took place early this year about the issue which I thought had been resolved that the WCA races would continue the tradition of equality. Turns out I was wrong. Unfortunately as the WCA Cyclocross Liaison there is nothing I can do as WCA only makes recommendations for categories, start times, payouts, etc. So that means that as the CX Liaison I will be spending those two race days doing something else besides going to the cross races.
However, as the person who pays the bills and does the updates for madcross.org I will not be providing any coverage of those races as that is the only leverage I have. Obviously plenty of other people will take photos and shoot video at those races and people will still get their weekly cross fix. My photos and videos are not nearly at the level of the people coming out these days anyway so it's probably not a huge loss. However, I won't be providing links to those sites so people will have to find them on their own. Maybe someone will be upset with me and set up a competing website called wiscocross.org or something. Maybe people will agree with me and there will be an overwhelming call for equality in prizes for the women in our series. Maybe people won't even notice the lack of coverage. Maybe the promoters made an innocent mistake and will change things for 2010. I don't know.
I probably should talk to the promoters about why they made this change but I haven't had the energy and time and that is why I'm looking for a replacement for the WCA cx liaison job next year. I just don't have time to do the job justice and clearly we need someone with more time to invest in the job. Anyway, I plan to write something up to put on madcross later this week about the lack of coverage but thought I would mention it here first. I already mentioned it on Facebook and Twitter as soon as I saw the flyers so it's not a secret.
Frankly after 20 years of working on this issue I can't believe we still have to battle over equal prize money. It is 2009 or 1899? However, I know people are sick of me talking about it so listen to Georgia and Katerina instead.
And yes, I do realize that perhaps it is hypocritical of me since the USGP only pays equal to the top 3 elite women and I'm one of the Regional Directors now in that series. I had a big chat with them about the issue before John and I agreed to give our races over to the series. However, it's not like the USGP used to pay equal beyond the top 3 and they stopped. Instead I've been working very closely with them to increase the equality beyond top 3 for all 8 of the races and I have hopes that we can make an improvement next year.
Anyway, this weekend I'm going up to Hayward to do some mountain biking since I won't be at the cross race. Luckily I got into see Lee at Unwin Wellness & Chiropractic this morning and my back is feeling much better. I'm going to try and take it easy for a few more days in hopes that I recover fully and don't have any more muscle spasms. However, after my appointment with Lee I was super psyched to finally feel like I could stand up straight and did not have to hunch over because my back was so tight and sore. I'm hoping this means I will be feeling good and can get in some riding this weekend and maybe a little rollerskiing too. Then hopefully I will be back to cross racing for the Cam-Rock/Badger Prairie double weekend!
posted by MadCross at 7:30 AM
1 Comments:
Glad you are doing a little better, I will be checking up on you as I ride through badger so take it easy. I didn't read all your blog how do you get Grafton if you could post directions that would great.
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