When I won the world road race championships, Sky sponsored a men-only team. I never received a penny, but I still had to wear the logo. Was Sky aware of the inequality of the distribution of its funds to the sport? I am confident that it was not.
QuoteWhen I won the world road race championships, Sky sponsored a men-only team. I never received a penny, but I still had to wear the logo. Was Sky aware of the inequality of the distribution of its funds to the sport? I am confident that it was not.
This is so effing ridiculous
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/25/nicole-cooke-cycling-sexism-jess-varnish-shane-sutton (http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/apr/25/nicole-cooke-cycling-sexism-jess-varnish-shane-sutton)
Nicole's autobiography is a great read and a real eye opener on how BC and Sutton treated.
Sutton has now apparently been suspended after he was reported to have referred to Paralympic cyclists as 'wobblies' and 'gimps'.It's reported (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36147120) that the phrase used was "****ing gimps".
"The attitude towards them was abysmal," said Kenny. "We were tolerated at best. The term used to refer to us was generally 'gimps', with another word in front of that.
I'm very interested to hear Dave Brailsford's take on this.
He said Sutton, who also mentored Sir Bradley Wiggins, is "so intense that there are times that the only thing you can do is fall out with him".
Hoy added: "Half the time you want to throttle the guy and the other half you are trying to get into his good books."
And http://singletrackworld.com/columns/2016/04/pro-xc-racer-jenny-copnall-speaks-out-at-british-cycling/ another one.
Nil combustibus pro fumo.
Getting the excuses in early for fewer medals...
I'd also be surprised to hear anything from DB about it. Given that in some cycling circles he is practically sainted, it will wash away from him if he keeps his head down.Providing for women's racing is a challenge in particular due to the relatively small numbers and the increasing costs of promoting an event. Locally I hope the new off road circuits will allow for more opportunity to get balanced racing going (ie fields that are even in ability). However, that commissaire should be retired. I hope he (I presume it was a he) was reported through the appropriate channels.
You only have to look at the amateur scene to see that BC don't see women's and men's racing on an equal footing (and has always been so). One example is that there is a national series for junior men (16 to 18 years old), but no equivalent for women, despite offers from organisers to provide for one.
Most women who race will be able to tell you a case of overt sexist toward them, and of the more everyday, unnoticed sexism in racing. At amateur level, a fraction of events will include a women's race, resulting in racing female riders travelling significantly greater distances to compete, usually in E/1/2/3/4 races, where the men's equivalent is 2/3/4. This means that female riders starting out (cat 4) often have to ride in fields with riders who are leagues ahead of them, much more so than male riders at the same stage. This doesn't encourage new women to give racing a go.
I have been to an E/1/2/3/4 race where the field was massively diverse in experience - the commissaire's comment on this could have been 'there is potentially a wide range of ability in the field, here is what will happen when the field splits'. His actual comment was 'some of you won't have done much training because you need to spend a lot of time doing housework'. I don't believe that it is isolated individuals at all.
Does anyone know what she did after retirement?
And Shane Sutton resigns....
It is challenging to promote women's events, but there is a lot that can be done to help to reduce costs. A good example is using 'piggyback' events where the men's and women's events are held on the same course at the same time. This requires a course to either be continuous or loops over a particular size such that the women's event can start 10 minutes after the men's event. This allows many of the overheads to be doubled up (venue hire, static marshals etc.), but does require 1.5x NEG and 2x commissaire. I've comm'ed at regional events doing this, and it works quite well. I'm also a believer in using men's entries to support women's events until they are big enough to stand alone (no events means no riders, no riders means no events - someone needs to break the stalemate). There are women's events with 80 rider fields, so female riders definitely exist.
That commissaire was reported; that comment wasn't the worst aspect of that event, but we never heard anything from it.
On the flip-side, I've met some phenomenal supporters and promoters of women's cycling, and it has come a long way in the last few years.
Imagine what Sutton was like to someone who was an only ok member of the team, or someone who was struggling psychologically.
Well. BBC and Sky are reporting that Sutton has resigned.But he is still employed by Team Sky.
And a Sky pro pours oil on troubled waters (http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/peter-kennaugh-deletes-tweets-criticising-emma-pooley-222929)
Well. BBC and Sky are reporting that Sutton has resigned.But he is still employed by Team Sky.
And a Sky pro pours oil on troubled waters (http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/peter-kennaugh-deletes-tweets-criticising-emma-pooley-222929)
Genius (https://twitter.com/Patsykins_X/status/725727013202448386)
I think British Cycling was working very hard to promote their track team as media stars (hence people still ask if you think you're Chris Hoy when you're riding your bike) - Pendleton was a significant part of that. For a time she was as dominant in the track sprint events as Cooke was on the road - she won the only gold available to her at Beijing, but was world champ in the same 3 events as Hoy. A total of 9 world track titles and 2 Olympic golds, plus a bunch of lesser medals suggests she was pretty good!The point is *all* it mentions is her road race gold, no mention of her other (many) wins, her sitting as world road champion for several years.
Cooke was never part of the BC scene (and indeed claims that they actively hindered her career on many occasions), so didn't have the publicity opportunities that Pendleton had, and womens road cycling at that time was in a mess - if Cooke was at the height of her powers now then her fame and earning potential would be massively greater. She was basically the best woman road cyclist in the world between the years 2003-2009.
PS - has the article been amended? It now links to the report of Cooke's road race gold at the 2008 Olympics.