As I write this from GoldRiver XXV headquarters (my kitchen table) in the last week of February, I am very pleased to say that VIME has achieved two major milestone of success that I have set for myself…. female entrants and entrants from other countries.
Welcome, all! I set about building a grassroots BC rally community and a community is developing.
Now, to my next issue. To have one Competition class or separate Competition classes for men, women, and transgender riders?
From my Triathlön days, I am well aware of the debates that are going on about equity in sport - especially at elite levels. Undoubtedly there are traits that figure differently in different sports. Physical size, weight, musculature, aerobic capacity. There are sports that elite male athletes will perform with an advantage and different sports that elite female athletes will be advantaged. For example, track sprinting compared to gymnastics vault and tumbling. One sport rewards strenght and large frames, the other rewards small frames and small polar moments of inertia.
There are however, other fields of endeavour where the bias is much less apparent or even present. I am thinking of skill-based activities.
And besides which, none of us are “elite level experts”………..
I have quizzed Sasha Sabinin, last years Grand Slam winner about what his edge is, and while he is very modest he agrees his “edge” comes from having a bike that is easy to handle (Yamaha 250), being comfortable riding it, being good at decyphering the roadbook for navigation and being reasonably good at mental arithmetic for time speed distance recalculations while doing all of the above.
None of which are predominantly male or female traits. And I say again, we are not elite level athletes…. (I wish!)
So, I propose, for the “roadbook+gps timing” completion class of VIME events that there will be just one class. At least for 2025. If in the light of results there is an obvious bias that needs addressing, this “one class” arrangement will be revisited.
Of course the Gaia and roadbook-only classes are non-competitive and no issues arise.
If anyone feels strongly about this, I would like to invite debate. Perhaps even debate about what the criteria for reversing this position might be? Your thoughts?…
Jonathan
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