Rapid Ascent Announces New Gender Equity Initiatives

Press Release / 01.08.2024

Rapid Ascent is proud to announce their commitment to fostering a more equitable environment for women at their events, nation-wide.

Priding themselves on conducting fair, well run events, General Manager Sam Maffett says he is eager to move forward with a more equitable approach to better welcome and support female participation.

“Whilst we have always prioritised and celebrated equality, we recognise the importance of advancing towards true equity,” announced Maffett.

While gender equality aims to treat all genders the same way, gender equity acknowledges that males and females have different starting positions and aims to achieve an outcome that is more equal between genders.

“Supporting female participation has always been important to us, however enhancing gender equity and leveling the playing field is the natural next step,” added Maffett.

In response to their commitment to enhancing gender equity, Rapid Ascent will be implementing a number of changes, beginning with the 13th edition of the Surf Coast Century ultra marathon.

“Based on race data over the past four years, there are clear differences in performance between male and female participants,” said Maffett. “And as such, we will be adjusting the names and cut-off times for the time-based ‘stein’ award - to better accommodate the difference in genders.”

Historically, there has been a 1 litre beer stein awarded to runners who finish the 100k ultra marathon under 12 hours; with a smaller stein for those finishing under 16 hours, regardless of gender.

Global race data shows that proportionally women are 10 - 13% slower than men in running events. Rapid Ascent has made the step to increasing the female time allowance by 12.5% which means that the new time-based awards for females will be 13 hours and 30 minutes for the 1 litre stein, and 18 hours for the smaller stein. Men’s cut-off times will remain at 12 hours and 16 hours respectively.

The 1 litre stein will be renamed ‘Bells’; and the smaller stein is now the ‘Addis’ – both reflecting features of the Surf Coast Century course and popular local landmarks of the area.

“These adjustments aim to ensure fair recognition of all participants' efforts, and also reflect on broader trends seen in other sporting events and world records,” said Maffett.

“We also recognise that women who have achieved the original milestones at the Century, including instances where women have outperformed men, but acknowledge that these are outlying performances that are the exception and not the norm,” said Maffett. “Anna McKenna for example, did a world class run in 2021 and won the Century outright by 35 minutes!”

Rapid Ascent are not new to equity at their events; with new efforts to build upon the success of the Odyssey Angels program initiated at the Otway Odyssey MTB Marathon in 2017.

“I’m an experienced and long-time mountain bike racer; but I just LOVE how encouraging and friendly the Odyssey Angle initiatives are, thank you” – Carolyn Jackson, long-time Otway Odyssey participant.

Several female-focussed initiatives are already in play at Rapid Ascent events, such as women's-cut apparel options, equal use of male and female photos, female-led aspects of event management such as MC’s and key staff; along with female-friendly non-competitive training and course recons; and female MTB course descriptions written by women.

Rapid Ascent will expand on these with a number of new initiatives to continue to create a welcoming environment not just for all, but specifically for women. This includes new policies such as pregnancy refunds and transfers, designated female-only toilets and change-rooms, availability of sanitary products, women equally called to the front of the start lines for representation; enhanced female training programs, and additional course descriptions written by women across all disciplines.

“We look forward to continuing our journey towards a more inclusive experience for all participants at Rapid Ascent events,” concluded Maffett.