Over the coming months, I’m aiming to raise £2,500 to allow me to pay for up to 100 riders under the age of 23 to enter the UK national championships in 2019. I’ve always been fortunate enough to be able to race when I’ve wanted to, but over the years I’ve been racing there are certainly more financial pressure on riders and their support networks. One of the huge appeals of cyclocross has always been its accessibility, and hopefully this can be a small part of keeping it that way.

This will be run as a raffle with each £10 donation giving you one chance to win a host of prizes. For each multiple of £10, you get a further chance. As more prizes are collected, I’ll add them to the list. I’m doing this for various reasons, but primarily to try to help a group of riders from which we see a huge fall out rate from the sport. In the UK we have an immensely talented pool of riders in cyclocross, and this years U23 team headed to the World Championships are such a strong group. I’d like to help in a tiny way to offset the cost for the riders, or their parents in paying for this one event. It’s not long until we will have a Junior World Championships which will be another huge step towards true equality in cyclocross.

Research has shown that young women in the 16-23 age group leave sport at a higher rate than any other group which is why i have chosen them. What sport can give these young women in confidence, drive, passion at such an informative age is really important to me. This isn't just about getting riders to a race its about building a group of young riders who grow together through their common interests.

There always seems to be an annual debate about participation numbers in women’s cross, compared to those in men’s racing. I hope this small act can help change this in the future, as a tiny stepping-stone. There are many other ways I hope to help as well, but one thing at a time. I’m aware the smallest field in women’s racing was in fact the Elite women at this years National Championships. It might seem sensible with that in mind to provide a helping hand directly to that category, but my thoughts are we should be focused on keeping riders in the sport from youth through to U23 and therefore naturally boost the elite field overtime.

Prize list so far:

1 x Signed Jersey

2 x Pairs of Horst CX Spike

2 x Helen Mug

2 x Kind Helen T-Shirts

2 x Verge Sport Swag (Hats etc)

2 x Challenge Tires Swag (Hats etc)

Signed World Champs Race Numbers

Alma GP swag pack (Check them out at http://almagp.blogspot.be)

If you’d like to be involved with this, with ideas, prizes or anything else, please drop me a line at info@helenwyman.com