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@The_Seldom_Killer
I thought it was around 50 riders or so in the mid to end season races. I know I only attended two but they seemed well attended when I was doing suport work for my gf. Certainly the Melborne race seemed very well attended.
Still, you're right, the attendance isn't nearly high enough. Two things annoy me about this.
1) The more women who ride in national events, the higher our international ladies competitors get placed on the grid, making it far easier to ride with their peers rather than drag up through the field to get there in the first place. Also, the more prizes there will be for the competitors. Thinking that it might be a bit too much effort to ride for no chance of a prize? HTFU then. For all those 50+ male riders out on a Nocturne, there is still only going to be one first place, one second place and so on.
2) Men are bloody lazy when it comes to womens sports. It's a shambles the number of times I've been in the pits at a national cyclocross and it's been pretty sparse for support crews. Then, to really make it bad, as I'm packing up and heading back to the van, some of the women who've just been racing through freezing cold and squelchy conditions are popping on an extra layer and heading into the pits to do their stint for their husbands/boyfriends/kids etc.
Out on things like the National Team Series it's still wives, sisters, teammates out there passing bottles, cheering etc if anyone at all. Compared to the mens races it's utterly pitiful how support is so poorly reciprocated. Naturally I don't doubt that LFGSS guys will man up and do their bit, I just think that the situation in general is pretty crap.