(Photo courtesy of MBSEF)
Sponsors and Community Rally Together to Raise Funds
Due to the generosity of Regence BlueCross Blue Shield of Oregon, title sponsor for 2017, the Nicole Reinhart Fund, MBSEF and the generosity of individuals participating in the GoFundMe campaign, the men and women’s prize purse will now be the same as what is listed for the men’s, through the top 15 positions in our UCI fields.
The initiative began three weeks ago once the race organization began to finalize the technical guides and prize purses for the race. They realized the significant disparity in the prizes and went to work to see what could be done to change them.
Just before racing got underway, controversy hit social media regarding the issue soon after the tech guides were released.
Prior to the sponsors and the community raising money, there was a limited amount of money set for the prize purses. Due to the minimum payout regulations, the race organization was unable to split the money that was available, equally.
“The men’s and the women’s minimum are two different numbers,” explains John Schiemer, MBSEF executive director. “We had actually increased the women’s over the minimum but only to what we could do at that time.”
Once the minimums are met, race organizations are free to raise that amount as much as they see fit and are able. This action does not require approval by the UCI, only that minimums are met. Still, the Cascade race organization met with Dot Abbott, the chief commissar for the women’s race to let the UCI know.
“Early on when we made the decision to go UCI, we were led to believe by USA Cycling that the prize purse would be very similar to where we were already at,” Schiemer added.
“Last year, if you look back at the prize purse, we were equal to the top 15 places for both races. The men’s race pays to top 20 and the women’s race pays to the top 15 (on GC). Obviously, we’ve all been bothered by this issue. It’s not right, and so I have been having discussions with donors on this.”
**Below is the prize purse listed in our tech guide. The new purse for the UCI women will be the same as that listed for the men up until 15th place.
About MBSEF
Established in 1986, the Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation was developed as a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and support of alpine, cross country and snowboard race training and competition in Central Oregon. Russ Read was instrumental in the development of MBSEF.Today, as the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation, we are a member club of the United States Ski & Snowboard Association. All of our programs are organized following the guidelines that have been established by USSA for skier development. The goals of MBSEF are to provide the opportunity for introductory to advanced levels of training and competition, assist in the healthy development of all participants through the pursuit of athletic, academic and personal goals, and to encourage academic achievement and promote the positive values developed through competitive sports.
Media Contact:
Rebecca Reza
Giving Tree Media
(915) 491-0977
Rebecca@Givingtree-media.com
MBSEF Event Director: Molly Cogswell-Kelley molly@mbsef.org
