|
|
|
Last Updated: Feb 28th, 2008 - 15:38:05 |
Triple national road race champion Siobhan Dervan has officially indicated to Cycling Ireland that she will appeal the non-awarding of an International Carding Scheme allocation to her this year. Despite being Ireland’s top women’s rider, taking good international results and being a member of a top-ten team in the world rankings, she was controversially passed over for a grant by the Irish Sports Council.
In her prior application she pointed out an inequality in the criteria for carding between men and women. Currently, having a contract with a UCI ProTour level team is listed as being one threshold to qualify for International-level funding. However the ProTour label only actually exists in men’s cycling; Dervan explained that as she was due to race with the Italian pro team Fenix in 2008 [ranked 7th in the world towards the end of the 2007 season], she considered this to be of an equal level and applied accordingly.
In men’s cycling the ProTour label applies to the top 18 teams, and so it is reasonable to expect that consideration would be made of this fact.
Despite this inequality in the criteria, Dervan’s application was deemed not to qualify for International funding. Bizarrely, it was rejected outright rather than being considered for the next level down, that of Development. This is perhaps due to another glitch with the current criteria: being a member of a women’s pro team is accepted as qualifying for this level but is subjected to an age constraint of 27 years or under. This seems once again to be an example of gender bias; if being a member of a top-level men’s team leads to funding irrespective of age, why then is an age constraint set for women competing in pro teams and applying under that standard?
Dervan was known to have been very disappointed not to receive carding, and also with what she perceived in recent months to be a lack of support for herself and women’s racing in general. This was echoed by Cycling Ireland’s women’s commission, which has told Irishcycling.com of its own concerns about priorities (or lack thereof) in this area. We understand that funding was sought from Cycling Ireland to send teams to international events and chase the points which could have earned Olympic qualification, but that this bid for backing was unsuccessful.
In addition to that, large sums have been ploughed into men’s track racing, but there has been no structured programme for women in this area.
When Dervan received notification that no monies would go her way in 2008, she informed Cycling Ireland’s High Performance director Frank Campbell that she was going to retire. However, having had time to reflect, to speak to others about the situation and also to talk to the Irish Sports Council, she has reconsidered and will now appeal. She said that had a special case been made for her with regard to her application, that carding would probably have been forthcoming.
Certainly, given the performances she has achieved thus far, it is feasible to believe that she can make further advancements and achieve higher goals. She was ill prior to last year’s world championships and rode the race on antibiotics, finishing one place off her 2006 showing. However this does not reflect her progression, which is clearly backed up by physiological test results. She has a lot more left to give.
Fay and Moriarty try again
Also appealing are Jenny Fay and Louise Moriarty, both of whom who have been landing decent results internationally, have shown good progress, and who will be competing with the Swift Racing Team in 2008.
They too felt that they should qualify for some funding and have spent considerable amounts of their own money to advance their careers, yet they were told this month that their applications were unsuccessful. However it emerged recently that due to an administrative error, neither submission was actually assessed.
Both will reapply and, like Dervan, hope that something can be done to ensure that Ireland’s top female riders have backing and thus the opportunity to chase international results.
What’s clear is that there is an obvious discrepancy between the funding available for male and female riders within Irish cycling. Out of a total of €215,000 announced under the carding system, just €12,000 was allocated for women’s high performance cycling. This consisted of a payment of €6,000 each to Paralympic rider Catherine Walsh and her tandem pilot Joanna Hickey [who themselves got less than their male counterparts], while those in the mainstream branch of the sport received nothing.
With less than six percent of the total funding going to women, something is clearly wrong with the criteria for carding. Looking at the overall situation and also speaking with members of the women’s commission, it also seems that there is a lack of recognition of the efforts made in this area.
“There have been some frustrations with the area of High Performance," a member of the Women's Commission told Irishcycling.com. “We are working hard to develop the sport and would like to see a proper racing/training programme for those riders who make it to elite level. We would also like recognition of the girls who have reached international standards and are racing in world cups and world championships.”
Unbalanced criteria:
Studying the criteria for road cycling laid out here http://www.irishcycling.com/publish/news/art_2780.shtml and reproduced in part below, there are three areas where it seems there is a clear imbalance between men and women’s cycling. The first is in the International category, where being a member of a UCI ProTour team leads to such carding. However, given that there is no such term in women’s cycling, those racing with the top teams in this area are simply forgotten about.
International:
(criteria to be achieved each year)
12-30 in the World Championships
12-30 in the Olympic Games
Top 15 in the European Championships U23
Member of a UCI Protour team
Achieve 170 UCI points by ranking year end
Winner UCI 2.2 event
If the rider concerned does then try to lodge an application under the next criteria down, the Development category does permit being a member of a women’s UCI Continental team. However, this is subject to an age constraint of 25 years of age or under; considering that no such ace limit applies to the top level of men’s cycling, this is clearly unfair.
In addition to that, being a member of what is termed “a Cycling Ireland Continental team based in Belgium” enabled the riders to get funding. However, as the An Post M. Donnelly Grant Thornton Sean Kelly team does not have any female riders and has no tradition of doing women’s races, it is clear that female riders cannot qualify via this mechanism. Again, this favours male riders without giving any equivalent provision for females.
Developmental – under 25 years of age:
(criteria to be achieved each year)
Top 60 in the World U23 Championships
Top 30 n the European U23 Championships
Top 20 Junior World Championships
Member of a Cycling Ireland Continental team based in Belgium. (Max 4 riders)
Member of a Women’s UCI Continental team
Top 3 UCI 1.2 or 2.2 event
So, looking at the criteria as laid out, the clear question is where’s the incentive and financial assistance for women to compete abroad? The funding provided to the Sean Kelly team riders plus those on the Irish team pursuit squad shows that it’s possible to shape the criteria to fit the needs of competitors, attributing funds in such a way as to help further a particular direction or strategy. However it seems that this thinking is simply lacking when it comes to women’s cycling. Given the growth in this area and the efforts made by those racing abroad, this is hardly justified. So too the fact that Developmental grants are available only to those at a young age; the demographic of those in women’s cycling here is complete different to the competition age span of male riders, especially as many females come into the sport from triathlon or other disciplines.
Siobhan Devan, Jenny Fay and Louise Moriarty have all shown ability competing abroad and, going on their performances, appear to be as entitled to funding as some of the other riders on the carding scheme list. They – as well as many others within Irish cycling – will hope that their resubmissions to the Irish Institute of Sport will see them get the backing they deserve.
----------
Cycling Ireland 2008 carding:
International level (€12,000 each):
Dermot Nally
Paul Healion
Mark Cassidy
Philip Deignan
Robin Seymour
Nicolas Roche
David McCann
Brian Kenneally
David O'Loughlin
International (€6000)
Paidi O'Brien
International Disability (€12,000 each):
Enda Smyth
Cathal Miller
Michael Delaney
David Peelo (pilot rider)
International Disability (€6000 each):
Catherine Walsh
Joanna Hickey (pilot rider)
Developmental Allocation (max 5,000 each)
Daniel Martin
Connor McConvey
Isaac Speirs
Ronan McLaughlin
Denis Dunworth
Niall Davis
Kieran Leahy
Junior Allocation (max 3,000 each)
Sam Bennett
Liam McGreevy
Total:
€215,000
Percentage of overall total going to female Paralympic riders: 5.58%
Percentage of overall total going to female riders in mainstream competition: 0%
------
Want to let us know your thoughts on this? Click the 'contact' button at the top of this page to email Irishcycling.com. Your comments will be posted on the site.
IrishCycling.com Information
|
IMPORTANT: All articles,
quotes, results and photographs which appear on this website are strictly © Copyright
2008 Shane Stokes,
IrishCycling.com. Unauthorised
use of quotes or any other copy will not be tolerated, and further action
will be taken.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
