By CAROLYN SZCZEPANSKI
Kelly Benjamin in action.
When the organizers of the Tour of Missouri announced in July that the six-day cycling spectacle would add a female event, few metro residents were happier than Kelly Benjamin. After all, the Kansas City native is one of the top-ranked women in professional cycling, and there’s nothing better than elevating the female circuit on your home turf.
But just a few weeks before the Women’s Criterium was set to race around the Plaza, it looked like the event might be a wash. Many of the women didn’t have the money in their team budgets to make the trip to the Show-Me State.
That is, until some local riders opened their own checkbooks to make sure the female athletes got a chance to compete.
Benjamin on the top.
The trouble with the Tour of Missouri Women’s Criterium was twofold. As Benjamin points out, the female cycling teams don’t get nearly the sponsorship dollars that men pull in. So the women don't have nearly the same pot of cash for travel, lodging and other event expenses.
The other problem was timing.
When Amy McMinn, the local veterinarian and cycling enthusiast who was tapped to organize the women’s event, started calling around to the women’s team directors, it was already halfway through the year. Because the Tour of Missouri was added to the cycling calendar so late in the year, many told her their team’s budgets were already tapped out for 2008.
But women in Kansas City’s sports community weren’t going to let the sponsorship disparity between genders keep the ladies from showcasing their talents.
People like Sherri Wattenbarger, McMinn says, started "an underground swell of support” that made sure top names like Benjamin will be lining up for today’s race.
“Women Pro Cyclists Need Our Help!” Wattenbarger, a local attorney and triathlete, wrote in an August 10 e-mail. “This email is about women's cycling. But, more than that, it's about refusing to accept limits on women's opportunities.”
“I'm tired of women's professional sports opportunities being limited by lack of sponsorship money. I'm sure you are, too,” she continued. “We can either sit around and bemoan the lack of opportunities for women athletes or we can put our money where are mouths are!”
That they did. Within three days, Wattenbarger had raised more than $1,200 from friends and fellow athletes — enough to fund the travel for one team. The rallying cry widened through the Women’s Intersport Network and, with just a couple weeks to spare, community members had chipped in a chunk of change that allowed McMinn to cobble together more than $10,000 and secure the participation of the top five female cycling teams in the country.
Benjamin, for one, says the women aren’t just looking to put on a one-day show; they mean to lay a foundation for full female inclusion. The criterion isn’t on par with the men’s 623-mile tour — it’s only a 55-minute-plus five-lap race that will circle the streets of the Plaza. But it could be a starting point for equal exposure for both sexes.
“Even though the men are racing for six days all across the state of Missouri and we only have one race in KC, it’s still seen as a step in the right direction and hopefully a stepping stone to a longer, multi-day format for the pro women next year,” she says.
Not that it won’t be a multi-day event for some this year, too. Many of the women arrived in Missouri Sunday night, traveling to the Midwest directly after a two-day competition in Michigan. Today at 1:30 p.m. they’ll race to win a $7,500 cash purse and showcase their athleticism for the community members who opened their pocketbooks to get them here.
Showing 1-4 of 4
Sher, it relieves my concerns so very much to know you guys give to those causes and consider yourself as worthy as cancer research and planning parenthood. Bravo!
Trevor,
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you comment is based on genuine concern for the causes you mention rather than being intended to impune the generosity of the women who stepped up to support these women cyclists. Never fear, because we care about those causes too. The women I know who donated to the women's cycling event also donate to Race for the Cure, Special Olympics, Doctors without Borders, the Red Cross, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for children) Legal Aid of Western MO, the Human Society of Wyandotte County, Bridging the Gap, Planned Parenthood, Cross Lines Cooperative Council . . . I can keep going here... In fact, we not only donate money, we organize some of the local events that support those causes.
So chill, Trev, and aim your energy into the causes you champion rather than against folks who are on your side.
Trevor, I was going to call you an idiot, and then I realized your argument is so stupid, that calling you an idiot would be redundant.
Let�s see�donate to cure cancer? Neah! Women cycling!
Donate to the Special Olympics? NO WAY! Women cycling!
Diabetes? Sorry. Women cycling!
Keep on that slippery slope. Instead of donating to the Red Cross to help hurricane victims; donate to the cure for road rash.
Why help the homeless when you can bring a bicycling event to the alleged worst bicycling city in America?
like
dislike
