Women’s Racing Collaborative: Meet the trio breaking down barriers for grassroots racing

Melbourne’s Suzy Wood, Saffron Button, and Geelong's Emily Mabin love to race bikes. It’s how they met and became friends. It’s where they found their passion and a community of like-minded women. Cycling has taken them from local paths to roads across the world and the skills they’ve gained, they say, have shaped all areas of their life.  

Now, they want to give back to women’s cycling. That’s why they decided to launch the Women’s Racing Collaborative Inc this year. Their mission is to foster the growth of women’s cycling across metropolitan and regional Victoria, strengthening grassroots racing and creating meaningful connections between women from various clubs. 

Their flagship event, Summer Spritz, launched in February and is intended to be an annual summer criterium race series hosted by Victorian cycling clubs. There are eight rounds, eight clubs (Coburg, Footscray, Geelong, St Kilda, Ballarat Sebastopol, Carnegie Caulfield and Northern Combine/Preston), and eight opportunities for women to race.  

With three rounds completed, AusCycling caught up with the trio to find out all about it.  

Suzy Wood, Saffron Button, and Emily Mabin.

What inspired you to start Women’s Racing Collaborative Inc, and how did it all come about? 

Em: For me it started after an elbow to the ribs from a friend at my local club AGM. I put my hand up to help out, and grow female participation. From this I realised that not only my club but many clubs around Victoria were struggling with low female participation numbers. I rode with a lot of women socially, so this wasn't due to a lack of women riding bikes in the area, but jumping from the social aspect to racing seemed to be a big step.   

I also realised that many club committees are male dominated, and men tend to have a different perspective on racing - what attracts them, why they race, and how they promote it. There's nothing wrong with this approach, I’ve personally enjoyed competing in these events, but it's not necessarily inviting for many women.   

Racing in general around Melbourne and the surrounding areas is very scattered, there are so many races that many clubs get a handful of female entries but not enough to field women's only grades. Therefore, racing with the men is often the only option that women have.  

Building female participation in racing within one club is hard, and I believed there needed to be a collaborative approach with all clubs to address this, instead of clubs segregating themselves. We have seen two major clubs (Hawthorn CC and Carnegie Caulfield CC) in Melbourne do a great job at getting consistent women numbers each week, but we want to see this double and all clubs getting larger numbers of females competing.

So, after discussing with a few friends from various cycling backgrounds I approached Saff and Suzy and the question we asked ourselves, was, how do we create racing that will build a community but also promote and build club participation? We needed a joint effort between all the clubs to attract local women to race in a competitive but inviting setting -this became our goal, and this is how the initiative (and series) was created. 

Saff, Suzy and I all started cycling at different ages, and raced together, and now race at different levels/disciplines, which is why we work well and provide different perspectives when it comes to this initiative. We met through racing and formed friendships through being competitive and challenging each other, this is what we want to see grow. 

What’s your mission by setting up the Collaborative?

Em: To ultimately break down the barriers of racing and for women to feel confident and empowered.

Saff: To celebrate women’s cycling and the importance to have an opportunity to grow and improve, no matter where you started or where you want to go. It is also about giving back to the community and local races that provided us with so much on our own cycling journeys.  

Suzy: To celebrate grassroots racing and the clubs that make it happen. To help women build confidence on their bikes and take that with them into all aspects of their lives. 

 Tell us a little bit about the first racing series you have launched, Summer Spritz? 

Em: Most people are probably wondering why we choose crits as the race type. It is a short sharp race, spectator friendly and you don’t need to train hours on the bike to feel like you are up to the level. It is also a race that almost every club hosts in Victoria making it easy to slot into a club's race schedule. 

Suzy: Going fast, zooming around a corner you were afraid of, and then sprawling out exhausted on the grass with your friends: that's a special kind of thrill and joy. We want to make those opportunities available in a supportive environment designed for women, by women.   

 Saff: The Summer Spritz Series was a great launching platform; focussing on crits – something accessible, fun and spectator friendly. I raced in the US and crit racing there is a PARTY, the spectators are going wild and bring some a vibrant and exciting element to the racing. It is motivating, it adds to the atmosphere. It has given riders and clubs the opportunity to access different races that they may not have experienced; or would ever consider.    

How has it been received by the cycling community in Victoria and the women participating? 

Em: We have been overwhelmed with the support, everyone has been amazing. From the clubs to the women showing up. Including our sponsors as they are also a huge part of this. 

 Suzy: I think "joyous enthusiasm" covers it. It's been unreal. We have some teams like Pana Organic x Pedla who have committed riders to every race so far. We also have some women who've made the leap from bunch rides to racing for the first time. I really can't keep the smile off my face. 

 Saff: It has been so rewarding to see the joyous enthusiasm as Suzy calls it on the riders faces. We know many of the riders involved in the series and to see them show up to races and support and be stoked has been super rewarding! 

How has it been received by the clubs involved? 

Em: There were a few tentative questions, which was to be expected as this was new and a different approach to racing. But, they were all very quickly on board and have all been amazing to work with. 

 Saff: It has been great to see everyone jump at the opportunity to be involved. Overall, clubs are stoked on the initiative and the opportunity to bring more riders to their races. 

Suzy: Rae from Coburg CC, who hosted the first race, has been almost more excited about this than us! The clubs understand that one of our goals is to increase women's membership at the club level and this is something they also care about deeply. 

Can you give a bit of an insight into how you got it off the ground?

Em: After some early advice we knew we had to set it up properly, and we also knew that to be able to apply for grants and the like we would need to become a not-for-profit organisation. 

So that’s what we did. This meant; engaging a lawyer to draft up all the legal documents and register us as an incorporated association; developing a pitch to send out to brands for sponsorship; and engaging a graphic designer and photographer to provide us with assets to promote our initiative.  

All of the initial setup costs were self-funded, we needed to show that we were serious and we had a plan if we were to build support and partnerships with significant brands. 

We have all invested a lot of time and effort into this. We are all under 35 and still early in our careers, we all work full time and have very high workloads, it has become a second job, but seeing this come to life has been the most rewarding experience.  

What kind of support/partnerships have been beneficial for starting the Collab?

Saff: I have been in the cycling community for a long time; and friendships and partnerships have grown from my journey. I worked in the bike industry – with a focus on Marketing, Events and Partnerships for the past 4 years.

MAAP has been a major player in our journey, and a brand that has been working hard on building a community and celebrating women in cycling. 

We have leant on many of these partnerships that both of us bring to the table, including Aid Station, Hammerhead, Frank Body, Niccolo and Premax. There is a current push to build and celebrate women in cycling, both on a community level and elite level. 

I think we all have special relationships with different people and in turn, the brands they represent, and it has felt very natural and organic bringing these partnerships to life. We can’t thank those around us for this support, and just overall stoke on the series we have created. 

What has been one of the most rewarding parts of launching this initiative and the series? 

EM: For me personally is seeing women race for the first time. The joy and confidence that racing brings is something special. Also women starting to build friendships through this experience is what love to see. That is how we (Saff, Suzy and Myself) all met each other. 

Saff: It has been rewarding to see the stoke of the girls – it has been positive and motivating and we can visually see the impact we are having on a sport we love and the community that keeps us moving forward. It has been so great to give back and create an opportunity for those once in the same starting point as we were. 

Suzy: One of the most incredible things has been seeing women race for their first time and bring their friends along too! How unreal is that! Often, we think we aren't good enough or fast enough or skilled enough to race our bikes. It is a huge act of bravery for women to turn down the volume on that voice in their heads and come along and race and see it isn't such a big deal after all. It doesn't have to mean anything other than getting out there for a chop with your mates.

What kind of impact do you hope to make for women, by encouraging more participation in racing and promoting inclusivity in the sport?

Suzy: Bike racing changes lives. It helps us to face fear, build community, develop resilience, and see our bodies as powerful and capable. At the same time, it helps us to take ourselves a little less seriously.

If women walk away from this series thinking "yeah I might as well give it a crack" about the next bunch ride or race they see, then that's a win. I also think that increasing visibility of women's racing will help increase women's participation in cycling generally: "you can't be what you can't see".

So, at the macro level, I hope that initiatives like this build the foundations for equal numbers of women on bikes one day. I don't see why it's not possible. 

What are your plans for the future? 

Em: I would love to see the numbers double again in 2026 and add another regional race to the roster. Our ultimate goal is to see club races grow organically from this initiative, we hope that the women continue to travel to these clubs and race these races now they know the club and how they operate. Another dream would be to support one or two riders (financially) to race overseas or specific events in Australia. 

Saff: I would love to see consistent growth in women’s B and C grade – A will usually do that by itself with the ProVelo Super League. It would be great to see C grade grow and be able to establish a skills training platform that can be incorporated into the series. We ultimately want to offer our support and backing where we see fit in women’s racing – and something that will support continued growth.   

Photos: @Mason_Hender/@wmnsracingcollab