From my experience of talking to lots of women riders over the years, a lot are put off actually racing by the thought of mixing it with the blokes. Many have had a go at one event or another and been pushed and shoved and verbally abused by other riders while on course, not a great way to encourage women to stick at it and no amount of prizes will encourage women to come and have a go.
This year the national series, sees all the women racing at the same time, with just the juveniles and the youth riders to contend with, that’s been very much welcomed by the ladies that regularly take part in the series.
Admittedly it’s only the ‘odd’ rider who barges past but that’s all it takes to put off women, so I guess with the format you have on offer, it’s not gonna be that appealing to encourage women to have a go. Also it’s difficult to figure out how long you’ll be racing for, again most girls, new to the race thing would be terrified of thinking they’d have to race for 2 hours, I know they probably won’t be but it’s not explained clearly enough on the website or the entry form. Just my thoughts….
