It is not as prestigious or as celebrated as the men's cross country, but the 26th annual Sol Female Cross Country Cycling classic has its own story. This year it will feature Thirteen female cyclists riding 70 miles from San Ignacio to Belize City. It starts at 8:30 in the morning and finishes at the Memorial Park. Today, we spoke to Veteran cyclist, Althea Sutherland who will make it her sixth run this Sunday, and says she's hoping more young women will take up the sport to beef up the competition.
Althea Sutherland, cyclist
"We would like very much for other young females to come out and start riding because I think maybe people are tired of hearing just one set of ladies riding over and over. I think other young ladies should come out and try to see what they can do in a race like this, it's important and it's for good health."
Jim McFadzean
"What are the challenges for those who enter this race?"
Althea Sutherland
"Their challenges would be to try to finish the race. I think that's the most important, to finish and once they finish they would definitely start to ride again."
Jim McFadzean
"Being the fact that the men have history to their cross country cycling and cycling in general. Do you believe that it is more difficult for females now to get the corporate sponsorship and attention?"
Althea Sutherland
"As far as I am concerned I don't really have that problem, but maybe for the other females that want to come out it would be kind of difficult because most attention is on the male cyclist. They have a bigger follwing than us so all attention is on them more than us. we would really like to have publicity for female cycling, its great out there to ride."
Michelle Cano, cyclist
"This is my first time ever. I usually ride for fun but my kids' insist that I try for the first time. My son is a cyclist and he really thinks it's going to be good for me to get out there and just try it to see how it feels and if I like it I would do it again."
Jim McFadzean
"Have you ridden the distance before?"
Michelle Cano
"Yes i always do the Social Security ride, I did the ride in November for diabetes. I always do mileage with the boys back home so it's fun."
Jim McFadzean
"What's the greatest challenge?"
Michelle Cano
"For me would be to finish it because I am not used to the intervals and the speeding. I have very good miles but the intervals I am not sure."
Jim McFadzean
"Are you more concerned about winning or just finishing?"
Michelle Cano
"I am concern just about finishing, I want to just complete the race with the group if possible."
Cano's son Tariq just recently made the cross over from Junior to Senior Men's Cycling. The women are expected to complete the race in and around four hours.
The starting list sent out four days ago did not feature any foreign riders.
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