Episode 12 | Amy Broadmoore on Representation of Women in Endurance Sports
by Nikki Parnell — June 12, 2020
In this week’s episode we talk with Amy Broadmoore – a mom of three, an endurance athlete and photographer based out of Minnesota. Amy is the founder of an incredible photography and storytelling project called Onward, which focuses on women in endurance sports. A couple years ago, after she entered a gravel bike race and realized she was only one of six women on the start line, she became curious and decided to research the representation of women in endurance sports such as ultra running, mountain biking, gravel biking, and cross-country skiing.
She has been exploring the potential reasons why we don’t see women show up as much as men at a lot of these races. It could be because of a number of barriers women might face – they might feel the family pressures more than men do and stay home to care for their families, they might feel like they don’t have the time to put towards these long training seasons and races, they might be less encouraged to learn the ins and outs of sports that require more gear and knowhow (like bike and ski maintenance skills), and it’s intimidating to try a sport you’ve never done before. We’ve probably all felt that way at some point. Whatever the possible reasons, Amy continues to focus on learning and listening to women in these sports as they tell their stories.
Amy also shares some resources with us on how women can get involved in a new sport that might feel foreign to them. She encourages women who are on the fence to trying something new. There’s no perfect moment to fit a big race into your life and you never know what the future holds (i.e. injuries, etc) so we have to seize the moment. I loved it when she said, “You can find time. There are women who think they can’t find time, but if it’s valuable enough to you, if it feels like its adding to your life and not detracting from it then just jump in and do it.”
When we asked Amy how we’re going to get more women doing these sports that we love so much, she noted a couple profound things. For example, one bike race exponentially increased the number of women in the race simply by inviting more women to come. The idea of race directors intentionally opening the door and saying, “come, we want more women at our race” seems to help tremendously with getting women to toe the line. Transvulcania, an extremely competitive ultra that takes place on La Palma off the coast of Africa, has started lining the women up first, in front of the men. This made the women feel valued and strong, and it helped build a sense of camaraderie and cohesion throughout the race. Time cutoffs at races could also potentially be reexamined so more women feel like it’s possible to finish the race.
To Amy, this Onward project is about looking forward and discovering how to increase women’s participation in endurance sports. Plus the name alone, Onward, is a reliable mantra when anyone is in the thick of a long distance race, focusing on simple forward motion. In the future, Amy hopes to create a book of photos and stories from the women she has spoken with over the years as well as create an exhibit that will travel to certain races full of stories from women that have done that race or similar races before. Imagine soaking in these visuals that highlight positive examples of strong women in our community before you set out on your own race journey! That’s pretty powerful if you ask me. I imagine I’d feel like I had a sisterhood running along side me, sharing their energy.
We love what Amy is doing for our sport! And you will too. So give this episode a listen! You can stream it below or search “Run Hard Mom Hard” wherever you get your podcasts to queue it up for your next run! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast, rate, review, and share with your mom tribe! Thank you!
Show Notes:
Stef’s fave thing: Brooks Glycerin 18
Nikki’s Fave: Treeline Journal Athletic Running Hats!
How to find Amy and all she’s doing with Onward:
Resources for women interested in mountain biking:
Amy’s Favorite Race: Squamish 50 miler
Amy does something so cool!! Her family splits the cooking duties – she cooks once a week, each of her three kids takes one night and her husband takes the rest. They keep it simple.
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