Cat 3/4 Race Opportunity

My friend, Stephanie Chase, sent me the following information to post for your information:

Folks,

I know CCCP has a fair amount of gals in the club as well as a fairly large following in general so I wanted to pass this along to you.

Katherine (NEBC), Karen (CVC), and Janet Ramos, have asked Julie and I (IBC) to help out in making efforts to try and get the Northeast Women’s 3/4 Series going in 2009.  I’m basically working Maine and NH while the other gals are working the larger demographic of Mass and Connecticut.   The IBC women’s team ran a couple of cx clincs for Cat 3/4 women this past fall, that were a huge success so we’d like to work with Katherine, Karen and Janet to get the road/crit scene going as well.  In order to build women’s racing, we have to ‘encourage’ girls to get on the line and we can only do that by reaching out to all involved in competitive cycling on any level, beginner, intermediate, mens, womens and masters.  A couple of us are cat2 and three gals are cat3 that are attempting to get this going but basically we need everyone’s input no matter what level they are racing at.  (read:  don’t feel like you have to be new to the sport to participate and have input)

For those of you who are not familiar with the Series (which last ran in 2006), it is a points competition to encourage participation in Women’s beginner (cat4) and intermediate races (cat3). The first 15 finishers in a race will be ranked according to finish position with the rest of the field awarded points for participating. There will be a leader’s jersey and prizes at the end of the year. With the points system it is possible to still be a leader even without podium spots as long as you participate. We’ll also be awarding merchandise at races as prizes and primes to make things a little more interesting.

Right now we’re still establishing a schedule for the year but could use your input in deciding which races should be part of the series. Karen has created a brief survey. (Email me for the survey and info.) The survey results will be used to help determine what races fit everyone’s needs and also to guide promoters in offering more women’s fields.

In addition, I’m psyched to say that Portland will have a cat4 women’s development team that will be on the line in several of these races and am very excited to see how these girls do.  We’re hoping it’s only the beginning.  It does nothing but good for the sport and the sport in Maine, specifically.

I’m happy to report that I am one of the gals she mentions that will be on the line for CCCP and quite excited about it!