Female cyclists rode in the Tour de France for the first time in 25 years this past Sunday when 120 of the worlds elite women cyclists competed in a one day event called La Course by Le Tour. Although women are still not allowed to compete in the full Tour de France -- a state of affairs that womens cycling activists hope to change -- many view this weeks ride as a small but significant step forward in a heavily male-dominated sport. Last year, four professional female cyclists formed Le Tour Entier (The Whole Tour) to pressure tour officials to allow women in the race. The group, which includes this weeks La Course champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands, created an online petition calling for womens inclusion in the tour that attracted nearly 100K signers. Racer Kathryn Bertine also made a documentary last year on womens professional cycling called Half the Road to further raise awareness. English rider Emma Pooley recently published an essay in The Independent discussing the significance of this inaugural womens event: So what makes La Course such a big deal? It’s not a Tour de Anything, let alone France. It’s not the most challenging circuit on the women’s calendar. It doesn’t bring the winner a garish jersey, or a title, or even a medal. So why the fuss? Audience. The Tour de France is watched by millions worldwide. Viewers who never normally watch cycling give up several hours every day for three weeks to watch this epic, emotional, painful, beautiful battle over three weeks. La Course will be shown on TV in 157 countries. That’s a greater reach than any women’s road race has ever had. Great for the women who race there, and their teams’ sponsors, but also great for cycling fans. While La Course is a step forward, many womens cyclists are looking forward to the day when cycling events are open to all. They are hopeful that a change will take place in cycling similar to that which occurred in running -- such as when the prestigious Boston Marathon dropped its prohibition against women runners in 1972. As champion rider Vos told USA Today, “It’s a shame. We have a beautiful sport but we don’t get a lot of attention. We knew having more combined events would make a difference. We got this all started with a petition during last year’s Tour de France. We got around the table in September with the tour organization. Now we have La Course already in 2014. This is a small victory, and we’ll take it.” You can read more about efforts to include women in the full tour in the NY Times at nyti.ms/UuMANG. To learn more about the efforts of Le Tour Entier, visit letourentier or check out the Half the Road documentary at halftheroad/ For two fun Mighty Girl books that celebrate the joy, freedom, and excitement that riding a bike can bring, check out Sally Jean, The Bicycle Queen for ages 4 to 8 (amightygirl/sally-jean-the-bicycle-queen) and The Best Bike Ride Ever! for ages 3 to 6 (amightygirl/the-best-bike-ride-ever). For hundreds of true stories of women trailblazers in a wide variety of fields, visit A Mighty Girl’s Role Model biography section at amightygirl/books/history-biography/biography If your Mighty Girl also loves to ride and be on the go, check out our “Movement / Riding Toys” section, where you can sort the selection by the type of movement the toy encourages such as riding, balancing, throwing, and more at amightygirl/toys/outdoor-play/movement-riding-toys
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:23:34 +0000
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