Please be advised of the cancellation of the following DBC Events:
Cateye Road Race - March 10th
Boulder Roubaix Road Race - March 24th
DBC Events has made the decision to cancel these events due to a recent in-flux of emails that have been hostile in nature. The goal of DBC Events was to host grassroot cycling races that are fun and accessible to as many as possible within reason. Certainly, promoting the races is not for fiscal gain nor is it for recognition, as neither are forthcoming in this business. That is understood by most race promoters. But what is not understood nor accepted is the attack by cyclists and members of the cycling industry because of changes and choices made by the promoter.
In the past few days, DBC Events has received a series of emails regarding the lack of Women's categories in the two road races noted above. Not one of these emails asked why there was a change nor did they ask what could be done to change the situation. Instead, this is the tone:
What are you telling the cycling public by not having a women's race for
either Boulder Roubaix or the Cateye Road Race?
Your 'gender neutral' policy really destroys everything we are working towards.
Hope your races go down the tubes as I sure will spread the word on how unfair DBCevent is to women racers. I will definatly pass your flyer along to all the womens bike clubs in our area so they are sure to see who does NOT supports women riders
By providing a gender neutral start, DBC Events felt that it was providing a great venue for everyone to get out there and essentially, train for the upcoming season. Many female champions, such as Katie Compton have stated that to achieve her goals as a cyclist she raced with the men. This helped her become as strong as she is and achieve the level of success in a competitive environment. As noted in the most recent issue of Velo News:
She finished an amazing eighth place in the elite men's field at the 2006 Colorado State Cyclo-cross championships.
"That was the hardest race I did all year, hands down," Compton says. "Women are more content to be comfortable with their spot in a race, men race you for the 20th spot, in and out of every corner."
Compton says competing with the men gave her the strength to wallop the women's field at the national championships in Providence, Rhode Island. She plans to compete predominantly in elite men's 'cross races for 2007 training.
It is not the responsibility of DBC Events to pave the road for women cyclists. It is the responsiblity of the women and that goal is not going to be achieved by personal attack and threatening emails. The goal is going to be achieved by increasing the number of women racers that participate. DBC Events hopes that they do come out and race at every opportunity presented to them as well as increasing their numbers.
We have consistently demonstrated our devotion to the cycling community. And our support has been "gender neutral" - we have provided opportunities that did not exist to cyclists - regardless of sex, race, religion or age. We advocated for everyone.
So, now, we have decided that instead of putting our energies into venues to get others on bikes, we are going to focus on riding our own bikes. We wish you the best of luck in the 2007 season.
Chris Grealish and DBC Events
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2 comments:
This *IS* disappointing news, but I fear that Chris' cut-throat "gender neutral" formula isn't really gender neutral at all, it's trial by fire. Women's racing will ALWAYS have a different tone then a men's racing, and the attempt to use Katie Compton as a positive example of DBC's perception of gender neutral says nothing about the racing experience of the other women in her races. Simply that the racing was different as she says. DBC and Chris Graelish obviously promote a lot of good racing in Colorado, but it's clear he's not the one to help introduce more people, especially women, to racing. Here's to hoping that more and better promoters come along to light a brighter torch then the self-aggrandizing Chris Grealish
Colorado and Las Vegas would do well with some new promoters. To reiterate the last comment, "here's hoping that more promoters come along to light a brighter torch than... Chris Grealish". It is time for Chris Grealish to step down from promoting races. Chris Grealish can talk a good talk, but he cannot deliver when it really counts. He has big ideas for races, howerver, when it comes down to actually behaving as a professional racing promoter, he flails, and guilts anyone he knows into volunteering to help out on his race. Colorado racing would be better off without Chris' negativity and narcissitic attitude.
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