Newsletter Vol 13 - You Can Shape Lydia Grace's Future

This week we celebrated National Girls & Women in Sports Day. I also celebrated my 45th birthday on the same day. For those of you who are bad at math, I was born in 1975. Three years before I was born, six women were the first legal participants in a marathon (NYC). Just 8 years before I was born Katherine Switzer snuck into the Boston Marathon and was the first woman to complete an official marathon but not without incident. 

Along the route, one man shouted, ‘you should be at home making dinner for your husband’ and the race director, Jock Semple tried to physically remove her from the course. She finished but was disqualified because she was a woman.  

This story has an amazing ending - it’s worth a listen here 

In cycling, women still aren’t able to compete in some of the most iconic races like the Tour de France. Yes, there are reasons beyond just having a women’s race but the point is many men have publicly said they don’t think women are strong enough to complete the Tour de France. I actually clearly remember having this conversation with a male bike shop owner. He told me that the reason women couldn’t race is that they aren't physically able to complete it. Apparently, that information was being circulated by a few well-known male coaches. 

The irony is, for the past 5-years a team of women has ridden the Tour de France course a day ahead of the men and in 2019, they completed all 21-stages to the men’s 20-stages because of a rock slide that occurred after the women had passed. 

We’ve come a long way in my 45-years but we still have a long way to go. The person I adore most in this world is a little 4-year old named Lydia Grace. She’s my niece and what I want more than anything is for her to grow up in a world where she has equal opportunities. I realize for that to happen, we still have work to do.

In an era of marches and protests, it can feel like we have to do something epic to move the needle. We don’t. We can do it by simply following professional women cyclists, runners, soccer players, or whatever else you love on their social media accounts. We can do it by supporting our local events. Get a group of your girlfriends together and participate in a local gravel or mountain bike race. It doesn’t have to be an epic event like DK200 or SBT Gravel - most local races have a 30ish mile option and when race organizers see that women will show up, they’ll start paying attention. It trickles up.

If you’re in Georgia, join us as we head out to the Georgia State of Gravel on 4/11. My goal is to bring just 10 more women than participated last year. If you’re not here, find a local event and put out a call to women in your area. If you need help organizing a group, email me. I’m happy to help.

We’ve come a long way in the sport. At the Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta this year, 510 women and 267 men will race. I wonder if Katherine Switzer (now in her 70’s) ever dreamed that she would see those numbers? 

I hope not-so-secretly hope that Lydia becomes an off-road cyclist (although she does seem to already love soccer which isn’t terrible either) and that when she lines up for her first event she finds more women than men on the starting line. It’s up to us to create that future! I can’t wait to see it.

Where to Start if You don't know Who to Follow

Alison Tetrick - the Queen of Gravel

Rebecca Rusch - the Queen of Pain - adventure cyclist

Amity Rockwell - 2019 Dirty Kanza winner

Kate Courtney - World MTB Champ

Ruth Winder - Road Racer, Olympian

Interested in this conversation? 
Join us in Atlanta for an event before the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials. The conversation will center on running but it's an important conversation for all women in sport!