How Hanging Rock Handicap became Australia’s biggest women-only handicap race 

What’s the formula to running a successful female-only bike race?

“It’s not a secret, you’ve got to care about your audience,” says Alison Skene, race director of the Hanging Rock Handicap, Australia’s biggest female-only handicap.

“The number one thing is to make women feel welcome, that they are legitimate racers, and not secondary to men. And also they don't have to be expert level to enjoy the thrill of racing.”

It is this philosophy that has set the foundation and continued success of the Hanging Rock Handicap since its inception on the Victorian road racing calendar in 2019.

The 65km race on the roads of central Victoria was the brainchild of Skene back in 2018, who had a vision to create the “ideal” women’s road race event that would showcase best practice racing.

The goal was for the female riders to have a positive experience that it would encourage participants to enter more racing events and ultimately grow the women’s race community.

“I’d been racing for a number of years and I would race with vets clubs doing mixed handicaps. You would always find a grade that suits you and they really worked.

“But I wanted to know what it was like again other women. Most other women-only races were organised as graded races, and the fields were so small. It wasn’t as satisfying a racing experience,” she said.

Together with the support of her local club Hawthorn Cycling Club, and countless volunteers, Skene brought her vision to life after successfully securing a Change Our Game grant that would help fund the inaugural running of the race in February 2019.

That event surpassed Skene’s own expectations, with 100 ladies registering to race.

“At the time there were hardly any women’s only handicaps as far as I had heard of in Australia, and at most you might get about 40 women race at combines,” Skene recalls.

“It was unheard of to get 100 women racing, and the women who did it raved about it.”

It was mostly by word of mouth with her connections through other cycling clubs, as well as promoting the event on the She Race Facebook page that saw big numbers early on.

‘You can win from anywhere’

One of the keys to the race’s success is the handicap format, Skene said.

Riders are separated into smaller groups of about 10 based on their ability and strength, and handicappers will predict the group’s average speed.

The groups set off in waves, with the goal that the fastest group of riders (scratch) would catch limit (the first group) near the finish line.

“I like the handicap format, anyone can win. You can be the slowest person in there and beat the fastest person. It’s all inclusive.”

“And when you are in a group, your group is your friends. It’s fun working together.

“It’s so unpredictable, you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

While the handicap format was an appealing format for racers, it was one of the most challenging aspects of organising the race, Skene said.

“That takes up a huge amount of time. The new racers themselves don’t know how strong they are. So we ask for as much information as possible, whether it’s their Strava profile or best effort on a local climb to help determine which group the rider is best suited to.”

Location, location, location

The course, a 30km circuit around Newham and Lancefield, on non-closed roads, was chosen for its proximity to Melbourne (about one hour’s drive), relatively quiet and scenic roads, a supportive local community, and had been used for many races in recent years.

The race distance was set at about 60km, to appeal to a broad range of cyclists.

“I knew the Newham course really well. It’s not a boring course, but not hilly or super long, about the right distance at 60km.”

February was chosen to take advantage of warm weather and relative paucity of competing events, while Hanging Rock Reserve was selected as a unique and scenic backdrop.

Breaking down barriers

Despite rising costs to run the event such as venue hire, first aid, and traffic management, Skene said it was a conscious decision to keep entry low, at just $30 this year, to encourage more women to enter.

“We try to keep the entry cost down so it's not a barrier. Licence costs are still a barrier though,” Skene said.

“Overall, our focus is on reducing barriers to participation, whether that is cost, lack of information, skills deficits, lack of inclusivity, perceived risk.”

And it’s the racers too that want to support more women in the sport.

Feedback has shown despite the generous prize-money, it was not a significant factor in signing up.

“We always ask in the survey how important is 'supporting the growth of women's cycling' and it always rates extremely highly.”

Measuring success

For Skene, the measure of success was that if women had a good race experience and they wanted to come back.

She conducts a post-race survey every year which she says is important to getting feedback on areas of improvements, and what women liked about the race.

“From the beginning I always surveyed participants to find out what they liked about it, or what could be improved. People always gave it 4 stars or more,” Skene said.

In 2019, the first race was such a success, 93 per cent of participants said they would enter another race. The welcoming atmosphere was among the highlights.

The proof was in the pudding - the following year 120 riders participated in the race.

Funding the race

Mostly the events break even or make a small profit, but the club can absorb a small loss for the benefit of growing the sport and gaining new members if need be, Skene said.

Grants and sponsorship have been vital in helping cover the costs of running the event.

Skene has successfully secured grants from 2019 to 2022 through the Change Our Game program, as well as Macedon Ranges Shire Council Events and Festivals Grants.

This funding has also helped facilitate skills sessions that have been run in the lead up to the race.

And many businesses have been keen to been involved in the successful event as sponsor.

“Topbike Tours have provided much needed cash. Many sponsors provide product or services in-kind and we can use these for prizes.”

What does the future hold?

Like many other cycling events, since Covid, numbers dropped slightly this year and Skene said they were continuing to look at how to attract more riders to ensure the sustainability of the race in the future.

“A lot of racing is struggling to get numbers and we are trying to work out why that is, whether its cost of living, price of racing licenses, the allure of other forms of riding eg Zwift, gravel riding etc.”

“There is always going to be a churn but I know there are a lot of people riding bike out there, in bunches or non-racing clubs like Rapha and Knights of Suburbia, plus occasional racers. We (just) have to get the word out there, and keep listening to what our riders are telling us, so we keep offering a great race experience.” 

Photos: Melbourne Sports Photography