In 2010, races in Europe had a new feature, in some cases: a women’s race. It was a new requirement put in place by the UCI: a women’s race at all UCI-designated C1 events. But still, even with a race in all C1s, the payouts for the women were so low in both C1 and C2 that women racers bemoaned their ability to make money during the season.
In fact, in an article on Cyclocross Magazine about this very subject in 2009, a winner of a Men’s C1 race would walk away with $2334, while in the women’s field, regardless of C1 or C2 status, the winner would emerge victoriously clutching a check for … $259.
This morning, Helen Wyman, UK National Cyclocross Champion and Kona racer, tweeted that a new rule in place was “only for womens C1 races making it equivalent to mens C2 prize money.” She’s correct: according to the chart below, this year, Women’s C1 race payouts need to be equivalent to the men’s C2 prize list. While this doesn’t help matters much (a man winning a C1 race gets 1667 Euros, while a woman will only walk away with 350 Euros), it is a start towards equality in payout.
Wyman also added that the US is setting a great example by often offering more than the UCI minimum for women’s race winners, and in some cases, even equal payouts across the board for men and women.
Chime in below: what do you think of the new payout rules?
