An exclusive stage mountain biking event for women will take place for the first time in Costa Rica next May. This is the Kivelix Trophy, which will take place between the 15th and 16th of that month at the Hacienda Guachipelín, in Rincón de la Vieja, Guanacaste; which the organization expects between 150 and 200 riders from across the country to attend.
The competition consists of two timed races and a general classification. The stages are divided as follows: The first consists of a 15km race. While the second will have a route of more than 20 km.
Unique format
Its format is “unique” in America, according to the creator and organizer of the event, the national cyclist Katherine Herrera. It is expected that this will be carried out once a year in different places of the national territory. The rider explained that the objective of the activity – which has the motto: “The only protagonist is you” – is to encourage and promote female mountain biking in Costa Rica.
“For four years I have been innovating in creating spaces for women cyclists where they have the greatest role in a high-quality event, since in our country there is none. My goal is to empower them, so that they know that there are exclusive spaces for them to live a unique experience around this exciting sport and that more women practice it,” said the former national team captain.
Among the initiatives promoted by Herrera are the first mountain bike race only for women in 2017. “That’s when we began to demonstrate, not with words, but with deeds, that this space was needed. In 2018 our participation increased to more than 100%, so there we told ourselves with more evidence that space is needed”.
Consolidated events
Likewise, the cyclist supported other organizers of consolidated events to expand the categories to receive women and participated in the first performance of the Women’s Master Tour two years ago, in which 167 women competed.
“I have been in cycling for 20 years, having competed at the national level and have been selected nationally; also one of the things I like is listening to people, especially women, who have always told me about the the need to create spaces at the female cycling level based on this, the Kivelix brand was born, to create spaces at the female level”.
“This because previously there was no equality in the categories for women’s cycling. So that is what we have been doing: promoting and creating those spaces.” It was a matter of space under equal conditions, because they told me that, for example, a 40-year-old woman like me, was going to compete with a 30-year-old, or a 50-year-old with a 30-year-old. So what we did was segment the categories to show that there are women and that there is a need, but what was missing were more spaces,” Herrera explained.
