Documentary title Half The Road: The passion, pitfalls and power of women’s pro cycling
What’s it about The crazy world of women’s pro cycling
Type Feature-length documentary
Cost $19.99
Featuring Marianne Vos, Emma Pooley, Kristin Armstrong, Chrissie Wellington, Kathryn Bertine
Date released 2013
In 1980, American doctors concluded that cycling over 800m was too much for women. Oh, and most riders in a women’s team had to be aged below 28. That second one? That rule was only kiboshed in 2013. You heard.
“Imagine Wimbledon without a women’s singles tournament,” writes The Guardian’s Sean Ingle, “or the athletics world championships with only men: it would be as anachronistic as underarm serves or the 60-yard dash.”
Quite.
There’s a huge gulf between men’s and women’s cycling and this film is put together by some of the world’s best female cyclists in a plea to the absurdity of inequality in their sport.
Emma Pooley, one of Britain’s most successful road cyclists, currently riding for Garmin, reveals that they need £200k to keep the whole team going; instead Garmin paid one drugs cheat £400k for that season.
Things are changing, say the cyclists but, continues Pooley, “We’re not so sure UCI (cycling’s world governing body) has developed enough.” At a recent junior event there were 25 junior events for boys and seven for girls.
Former competitive cyclist Kathryn Bertine directs this film of the journey of women’s pro cycling; hopefully, in a few years time, the film will just be a historical record of how crazy things used to be.
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NOTE: Region 1 DVD so can only play in the US, not the UK.
