“I have an immense amount of gratitude for what the team is doing for women’s cycling. Since getting into the sport I’ve been reading a lot about the challenges for women. It’s getting better, but it’s still got a long way to go, so any part we can play in our sphere of influence is special. What the team is doing, they are playing more than just a small part.
They are going to be a real trail blazer for Australia”
Georgie Howe, Knights of Suburbia Racing
The Knights of Suburbia women’s racing team was born from a 20-minute conversation between DG1 and recently retired pro cyclist Gracie Elvin. One that spoke of challenges but also of opportunity.
DG, who would go on to become the team’s manager, recalls the conversation:
“It wasn’t that she prompted me, but she said something that resonated with me—the lack of opportunity for elite female athletes, not just in Australia but at a global level, having just come out of the World Tour. Afterwards, I hopped on the phone to David and said, what do you think we should do? Do you think we should sponsor a team? What if we did it ourselves…“
And that is what they did.
For David Rigney, one of the founders of the cycling community and apparel brand Knights of Suburbia (KoS), that discussion was intensely personal. As a “girl dad,” with two young daughters he was very aware the world they had been born into was one where equality is largely aspirational on many fronts. Coming from an AFL background, he had firsthand knowledge not only of the ‘boys club’ mentality in some sporting scenes (which he was keen to see not develop within KoS) but of the inequalities in access to opportunity, resources and funding that female athletes in Australia face. Creating the team seemed like a practical step to bring about change:
“For me, the environment we wanted to create was one of equality. The extension of that became the team.“
After that, things came together very quickly. Phone calls were made, word was sent around that KoS, previously only known in the men’s criterium circuit, were putting together a women’s road team. Conversations were had about who had a ride for the year, who didn’t and who wanted one. In eight short weeks the team was registered at the national level.
The group that came together was a combination of old and new—women with tested racing experience like Emily Watts, only 19 years old with already four years of national racing experience to her name, and those newer to the scene like Georgie Howe, who’d made the move to cycling after many successful years in rowing. The girls were a good fit together. Despite coming from different backgrounds, levels of experience and even mainland states, there was chemistry and comradery between them, cemented around their shared passion for riding their bike, respect for the sport and appreciation for the amount of work and sacrifice that it takes to compete at the national level. In the words of Kate Perry, the team’s performance manager, “Cycling is just part of us. It’s who we are. It’s what we love.”
Funding to get to the starting line
Aware that they couldn’t transform everything in one go, the newly assembled team management started where they felt they could make a difference: removing the financial barriers that prevent many women from even stepping up to the starting line. As any cyclist will acknowledge, cycling is an expensive sport, but racing requires additional costs. Equipment must be commensurate with the level of performance required to race at the elite level. Added to that are race entry fees, accommodation, food and travel expenses. For many female athletes, these costs are gate keepers to participation. For DG, this was the catalyst for the approach they wanted to take with the team:
“Elite female cyclists in Australia are very much dependent on their own financial means which dictates whether or not they can race at that level. They can have all the talent but if there’s not a team that’s going to pay for them to go and attend those races, they don’t get the opportunity. That really stuck with me.“
Knights of Suburbia racing would remove those barriers. Their goal would be to work towards being a fully funded women’s team at the national level.
For athletes like Emily Watts, who would go on to take the U/23 national title for the team in one of the few races of 2021, removing those financial hurdles made a huge difference:
“The fact that we don’t have to pay for our own bikes and we don’t really have to pay for travel to races is a massive help when you are trying to do uni work.“
It was a level of support Georgie Howe, no stranger to sport at the elite level, had never experienced before:
“I was excited for a free t-shirt when I was rowing so the provision of incredible equipment and apparel blows me away quite frankly. Its something that is so foreign to me. “
Active listening
Bringing about change in sport, as in many spheres of life, is a complex process. There are structural elements to it, but sometimes the starting point is simply asking how things could be done differently. Making it easier by taking away prohibitive costs would allow talented female athletes to race. But there were also important conversations to be had.
As newcomers, team management had space to ask questions. They were also keen to engage key stakeholders—women—in these conversations. For some in the national racing scene, it was like a breath of fresh air. Kate was immediately attracted to this approach:
“I think what drew me in was that they wanted to do something for women’s cycling but they were the first ones to put their hand up and say ‘we don’t know how to do it.’ I think them having that trust in both myself and some of the others and in everyone who had been in the sport… they just respected us as female cyclists and as people who had experience and I think for me that was a really big tick. I just felt really valued from the start…
This was an environment where I was going to be able to contribute to that change.“
In the background, changes were already a foot. The National Racing League was operating as a new entity under the governing body AusCycling and the extended impact of COVID was leading to conversations about new ways of doing things. This environment was fertile for new ideas. DG and team management were at the table when a decision was made to increase the number of female riders permitted to race for each team from five to six, allowing an extra rider without national experience a race start. For Kate, the management team was integral to those questions being asked. She recalls, “that process of questioning resulted in some of those changes. Potential barriers were broken down purely by asking the ‘why’ question.”
Women in leadership
Women were also placed in strategic positions of leadership. Along with Kate, management recruited former pro-cyclist Jo Hogan, then Taryn Heather, formerly assistant DS (director sportif) of Specialized’s women’s team, to step into the role of race director. For DG, it was clear this role could only be filled by a woman:
“You don’t need another person like me telling mid-20s female athletes what to do. We need women who understand women’s racing to be standing in front of women and to do whatever it is that she needs to get the best out of those riders.”
As Taryn came onboard, she recognised the team was trying to do something different:
“It definitely didn’t seem like a team of individuals, it seemed like a team straight off and that is what I want to be a part of. I think with management, it just sounds like a team that will go places.“
With Taryn came Mark Brady: Specalized’s DS. Stepping into the role of assistant DS, he saw the opportunity to continue to work closely with Taryn and to support her in taking the leadership role. Together, they would work together to bring the best out of the teamD
PROMOTING THE PRODUCT
The model created by the management team of Knights of Suburbia racing has the potential to lead to longer term changes in the sport. Creating opportunity for more women to race will create a stronger and deeper peloton of female athletes, which will encourage greater competitiveness and more aggressive racing. As the spectacle improves, they believe, so will commercial interest, which will in turn lead to more funding and greater opportunity for exposure. DG believes that creating equality of opportunity for women to race is integral to breaking the vicious circle of poor exposure in the sport:
“If we don’t accept that we have to increase the depth of talent in the field and our responsibility in that is providing riders with opportunity who won’t otherwise get opportunity, then that doesn’t get any better and nothing changes.
This is about creating talent that can progress. The more talent that’s on display, the more commercially viable it becomes for sponsors because the product gets better. Then it gets more airtime.
This is about creating a product that is commercially viable and getting funding for it. Therefore, women get better opportunities to be better athletes.“
As many in the scene acknowledge, “recognition goes a long way to women’s equality.”2
Postscript
The Knights of Suburbia women’s racing team started in a context of challenge and opportunity and these twin themes are no less pertinent for the year ahead. With the 2022 national racing season only months away, the group will come to the starting line with limited race time and preparation and team building interrupted by the COVID lockdowns. Yet the forthcoming racing calendar will provide the team with the opportunity to showcase the strength and talent of their line-up, built on the firm foundation of respect and support for women athletes. In the words of their team manager:
“The outcome will be what the outcome will be but the opportunity will be there for them to be the best they can be within a model that will work within Australia. I think we’ll be competitive. I think a lot of people won’t see us coming. And I love that…”
- A pseudonym
- Chloe Hart, “Female cyclists discouraged by lack of recognition as men in the same race awarded prize money.” ABC News, 25 February 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-25/female-cyclist-calls-for-equal-recognition-no-podium-finish/13186364 (last accessed 13 December 2021).
Follow the team as they make an impact in the National Road Series 2022 Season.