One of the oldest and largest gravel series in the United States has announced a third competitive division will be added for cyclists of any gender, including transgender and non-binary.

Beginning 26 August at Belgian Waffle Ride Utah, the BWR Series will offer men’s, women’s and open race categories with equal prize payouts.

The addition of an open category comes after transgender athlete who recently won a BWR women’s race.

In June, Austin Killips won the 132-mile long BWR North Carolina women’s race by over five minutes and took home the $750 USD first place prize. Other competitors were frustrated about having to race against a transgender woman and voiced their feelings on the Belgian Waffle Ride Facebook page. 

“In response to feedback that we recently received from some cyclists after our most recent North Carolina race, we are reviewing our registration and competition rules,” BWR posted after the race.

BWR then announced transgender women would not be allowed to compete in the women’s category and a new “open” category, without any gender identity requirements, would be added. In other words, the open category is just like thousands of traditional Saturday morning hammerfest group rides – open to all regardless of ability or gender.

Not everyone likes the idea of adding another BWR category, some athletes fear the open category will just provide a second opportunity for men to take home more prize money.

On the social media platform Reddit user ForSureLying posted, “So, as a male, you can look at the start list of [the] male and open [BWR races] and decide which you have a better shot in? This is stupid.”

User QLC459 was more direct in questioning BWR’s new inclusive strategy, “They fucked up by not just calling the ‘Male’ category ‘Open’. Now they have to split purse between three uneven categories on top of teetering along the line of separate, but equal.”

Along with the open category announcement BWR also stated, “[We] will not require proof of eligibility for racers competing in specific classifications before an event, preferring a self-selection honor policy that relies on the integrity of our participants to follow the registration criteria.”

Besides BWR Utah in August, two more events are scheduled this year: BWR Kansas on 14 October and BWR Mexico on 26 November, with Mexico expected to feature the largest total prize payout of the series – $10,000 USD.

Photo Credit: Instagram/@belgianwaffleride

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