The Dave Rayner Fund is aware of the huge increase in the number of female cyclists in the UK, many of whom now participate in races.
Whilst we have supported female racers in the past we do know that the numbers have not been as many as we would have liked.
We realise that there are many opportunities for female racers to join teams that do race internationally without actually making a home base abroad.
The qualification criteria of the Dave Rayner Fund has always been that we only support individuals that commit to living abroad for the whole duration of the racing season.
Perhaps because of this strict criteria we do not normally receive many applications from females that fulfil this requirement. In the interim however, in order to offer an alternative solution to females who would like to experience foreign racing without a long term obligation, we have offered an opportunity for 8 young, female riders to participate in a racing trip to Belgium next month. This trip is designed as a fact finding mission for riders who are interested in perhaps spending more time abroad in the future and could therefore qualify for our normal season-long support.
The 8 riders who have been selected are all racing regularly in the UK and are in a variety of British Club Teams. They will have the opportunity to race in up to 6 races during their stay in Belgium.
Follow @DaveRaynerFund on Twitter for all updates from this trip.
The 8 riders are:
Sian Botteley
Holly Flannery
Jane Hellawell
Anna Henderson
Amy Hill
Jenny Holden
Laurie Pestana
Rosie Walsh