The NAEC Privateer Contest Is Still Accepting Entries For One More Week
The NAEC Privateer contest made some waves, both good and bad, in the northwest bike community when it was announced a month and a half ago. Women in the community felt that the mission of the program was unclear and that it was missing the mark in terms of actually getting more women into the sport.
The team at NAEC recognized that and took the time to clarify the goals of the program and extend the deadline for submission to April 21st.
Recently, I caught up with Willy Bartlett, one half of the organizing core of the NAEC race and an integral member of the NAEC privateer program to discuss the confusion around the contest.
The overarching theme of our conversation was that this program is not out to find the next great American enduro racer, it was designed to allow a handful of women at any skill level the opportunity to progress their racing goals whatever those may be. Willy also expressed an interest in working with more local programs down the line to demystify racing and make the competitive side of this sport more accessible to more women who aren't just professionals.
Melina Glock, a board member for the NAEC Privateer program further clarified the overarching goal of the program saying, "More generally, our goal is to make competing and participating in racing more accessible to women, whether they are just getting into racing, have been racing for a while, want to get into racing professional or want to race for fun (there is no skill level or racing category requirement). With more women riding mountain bikes today than ever before, we are excited to help women with their racing goals in a time where support can be harder to come by."
The contest is open until April 21st and submissions are encouraged up until that date.
Related: Registration For The North American Enduro Cup Opens Soon
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