Husqvarna Canada Presents Female Perspective With Kate McKerroll

I want to start this week’s column off with a few disclaimers: I am by no means an expert on this topic. I’m sure there are some things that I don’t know or have missed in my research. This piece is 100% based on personal opinion. This is a HUGE topic, and what I wrote today barely touches on half of the issue. I am aware the situation is complex but as a female rider who once dreamed of racing in the WMX series, and lining up beside rock stars like Ashley Fiolek, Jessica Patterson, Tarah Gieger,  Vicki Golden and Mercedes Gonzales, I feel it’s important to share my thoughts and feelings on MX Sport’s recent decision to host the 2019 WMX National Championship in conjunction with the 2019 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s.

When I saw the press release from MX sports on my Facebook page on October 22nd I was shocked. The headline read:

The 2019 WMX National Championship will be held in conjunction with the 2019 Rocky Mountain ATV/MC AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s and will no longer be recognized as a separate National Championship series.

My heart sunk. I re-read it again and again, thinking to myself ‘in conjunction with LL’s? How can that be right?’ Despite the fact that I have been out of the moto scene for quite some time, the news still hit me like a ton of bricks. How could this be? Less than two months before coming across this news, I was reading a press release from the World Surf League announcing equal prize money for both male and female competitors. I was under the impression that 2018 was a year of growth for women in all sports. Why was I just now learning that motocross was not following suit?

According to the press release, it seems the organizers argument is: “Female athletes just don’t have the support and cannot afford to challenge a full series.” They are right. Women don’t have the support, and now, thanks to this decision, they will have even less.

When I was racing the pro women’s MX series here in Canada back in 2010, there were rumours about the event organizer replacing the women’s races on pro day with freestyle MX. This likely isn’t the best example to bring up, because they came to their senses and didn’t end up going through with it, but this rumour taught me the hard truth at a young age. Event promoters do not care about what is right, fair or ethical. They care about selling tickets. I understand this, we all do. The majority of spectators do not seem to find women’s MX ‘entertaining’ enough. I assume MX Sports does not want to fill their precious broadcast time with content that might bring in low ratings.

This whole issue got me thinking, why have the women had such a hard time getting ratings and filling fences? In the past, event organizers have scheduled WMX motos right after MX1 or MX2 motos, right after fans watch the best of the best go head to head. This created a huge contrast and left less moto-savvy fans saying ‘what the heck is this.’ But with the WMX races running on Fridays last year, I don’t see why it was such a burden on the series.

Spectator entertainment correlates with the level in which women are riding, but why is the gap between the sexes so extreme? I’ll start with the obvious, biology. A wise woman once told me something very important, ‘Men and women are not the same. We are equal but we are not the same.’ This is true! As a generalization, women are much smaller than men. Don’t get me wrong, Ashley Fiolek could wax 70% of guys in her prime, but it is unrealistic to overlook her size and strength when comparing her lap times with some of the top guys in the 250 class at the nationals. There is a certain amount of strength required to ride at that level. The most ironic part about the biology argument is, keyboard jockeys and trolls on MX forums often find it necessary to comment on the physical appearance of female riders. I was recently reading a forum on Vital and there was a post that said “It is a shame she (Ashley) retired. She was fast and she even looked like a girl.” She even looked like a girl? My interpretation of that comment was ‘She was even a petite blonde!’ To clarify, the weekend warriors that are saying women’s MX is not entertaining enough, because (and I quote) “it looks like a national novice race” are the same people saying they not only expect women to be fast, they want them to be small and attractive too! Sorry folks, if you want girls to haul ass past some of the top riders, they will need arms big enough to grip the bars going through breaking bumps at high speeds and legs strong enough to grip the bike.

The next thing I believe contributes to the gap between men and women is competition. The only way riders get faster is by chasing down, or running away from, faster competitors. Top riders are constantly getting better by pushing each other and raising the bar each year. Because the women’s classes are so small, it is rare top girls will have much competition, therefore not having as much pressure to raise the bar each year. Unless of course they enter the boys’ classes and use that as a way to push themselves. I’ve been keeping an eye on Jordan Jarvis and she was always notorious for kicking ass in the Supermini class. Now that she is on big bikes she is racing 250 A, which gives her consistent exposure to faster riders, evidently improving her speed. Big ups JJ!

Additionally, it seems the fast gals we do have don’t stick around for too long, they have relatively short careers. This means the women’s class rarely has a large pool of top pros. It’s normally a few girls way out front and a large gap between top 5 and the rest of the pack, which is again not appealing to spectators.

Spectators and event organizers are quick to notice small turnouts at races but fail to ask why. Why are the gates so empty? Why would someone like Fiolek retire in her 20s? A direct quote from the MX Sports press release: “We have some amazing women athletes in GNCC and WMX, but we have not been very successful in moving the needle for them and opening up opportunities. We need their help if we are going to help them.” The organizers are placing the responsibility of growing the sport on the racers. They are suggesting women not only have to ride, train, get sponsors, pay their own bills and uphold a certain physical appearance, they are also expected to build a stage for themselves and help grow the sport. I assume this is why some top girls bailed on the series so quickly. That is an awful lot of pressure to be under with little to no return. Someone at Ashley’s level with mainstream exposure could not even make enough coin to make it worth her while. The smaller amount of prize money is forcing women to get out early, get educations or get jobs while most of their bones are still intact. They know they won’t have nearly enough money to pay off their debts from racing, never mind enough to put money away for life after racing.

The last thing I want to touch on is numbers. Last year the WMX races had an average of 15 women on the line. From my research it seems the general consensus is that women simply do not have the support required to follow the series. I do agree this is likely one of the reasons, as mentioned above. If someone like Fiolek could not even find the financial motivation to keep going, there isn’t much hope for the others. Another reason for declining numbers is lack of representation. Empty gates are not only caused by little pay out, they are also caused by less young female athletes entering the sport. When a young male racer gets taken to a national to spectate with his family, he can watch the top guys battle it out before spraying each other with champagne and thinks to himself ‘I want to be like that guy, I want to be standing on a podium or winning a national someday.’ When a young female racer gets taken to a national to spectate, she will only watch men racing and see girls dressed in skin tight suits handing the male winners their champagne after a big win. She will not see a version of herself in her role models the same way her male counterpart will. She will likely, without even realizing it, feel she does not have a place at the track, unless it’s in a skin-tight outfit. Less and less females will be motivated to start racing if they do not see a representation of themselves in pro level positions. They will forever know the highest they can get with racing is to attend the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur National where their male counterparts are being scouted by sponsors and starting their pro careers.

I recently read a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Outliers. The premise of Outliers is, not all successful people become successful on their own. A large part of their success comes from the opportunities they have been given. Gladwell explains how Bill Gates did not become one of the richest men in the word strictly because of his brains. He became successful due to a combination of hard work, luck, and good fortune. Bill Gates went to a private school that happened to have one of the first computer labs. That computer lab gave him the opportunity to invest 10,000 hours of practice, which, thanks to good timing, was paired with other opportunities resulting in Gates becoming one of the best in his craft.

This example is important for a few reasons. Firstly, the same way a successful person cannot become successful one hundred percent on their own, these female racers did not create the collapse of the series on their own. There were many factors contributing to the widening gap between women’s motocross and men’s. Secondly, as we take away the chance for women to compete on a national stage, we are taking away their computer lab. By taking away these events we are limiting the ways they can put in their 10,000 hours to eventually become the best in their craft. We are taking away opportunities that these women need in order to start to close the skills gap between male and female riders.

It is unfortunate, considering the times, that our sport is regressing. It’s unfortunate that sisters, daughters, girlfriends and moms will no longer have women on the track at nationals that they can relate with and look up to. Despite all this, despite the disadvantages, struggles, lack of appreciation, and improper treatment, I hope no female riders are discouraged from chasing their dreams. We will continue to push back against decisions like this, and will continue to carve space for ourselves in a place we have been told no longer has room for us. Whether it’s a full gate of 42 women, 15 or even 2, we should be encouraging our sisters, daughters, girlfriends and moms to line up and do what they love. It will take some time, but with some determination, we can build this back up together.