Womens Prizes

[Dalesman]

This year for the first time we made the prizes for men and women mostly the same but no comment has been made about this on the forum. It would be interesting to have riders opinions about this and if this should be introduced to other events like the National Trophy series where their is an enormous difference in mens and womens prizes.
JR

[Lowly Swale]

I'd guess most of the field is not riding for the prize value and I'm impressed how generous and well spread the prize list is. A name check on the result sheet is enough for me and a charitable donation to say fell rescue or youth coaching schemes would be a more worthwhile use of an event surplus. Maybe good prizes for the top 10 and best in catagory to attract classy riders for the event prestige so we can say we rode in the same race as ....
When you consider what a bike, travel, accommodation and all the rest costs, a prize is just a drop in the ocean.
As for male female split, that's a tricky one.
There are certainly more men up for the challenge than women. You could say men provide more of the prize fund than women so they should be allocated more in prizes. Equally you might say it is more of a challenge for women and they might deserve more of a prize. Or it is exactly the same challenge and the prize should be exactly the same? Whatever, there'll be differing views and this forum could be interesting to test opinion.

[cmyk]

If males and females are doing the same race, I think the prizes should be equal.

[billy no mates]

Definately the right thing to do, just ask Renee and Heather!

[lanterne rouge]

I would say that there is certainly a very strong case for the winner's prize, and other high placings, to be the same for the women as the men. They ride the same race. Where there may be an argument for differential prizes is in number of prizes as there are far more men take part.

Incidentally, this is totally the opposite of my view about women's prizes at Wimbledon where, unlike in the Peaks, the women do not "ride the same race", playing 3 sets not 5.