Helen100 Trophy to Host Junior Women's UCI Series in North America this Fall

Charm City Cross is the first event to announce participation with two days of Junior Women's UCI racing in October 2021.

Junior Women’s UCI racing will be coming to North America in Fall 2021 thanks to support from the Helen100 program.

British cyclocross legend Helen Wyman announced that Charm City Cross in Baltimore will host two UCI Junior Women’s races on October 2 and 3 this fall. Charm City is the first North American race to join the 2021/22 Helen100 Trophy series, but Wyman said more events are likely to be added to create a full series.

Charm City Cross will offer 100 Junior Women’s entries funded by the Helen100 Foundation, which means up to 50 women will be able to race for free each day of the weekend. All races in the Helen100 Trophy series will offer payouts equal to those given to the Junior Men.

“This series of events in the USA will bring me full circle with Helen100,” Wyman said. “I owe a huge chunk of my career to the USA ‘cross scene. I raced largely for North-American-based teams and partners and without the atmosphere of those races and the friendly nature of the scene I’m sure I would have retired several years earlier. The US-based Rapha Foundation allowed me to do what I’ve done with Helen100 over the past couple of seasons as we have pushed for equality of opportunity in the sport.”

Charm City’s participation in the series is thanks in part to a long relationship Wyman has maintained with race director Kris Auer. Auer and Wyman worked together to bring equal payouts for women to European cyclocross at the Koppenbergcross in 2014, and Charm City was always a part of Wyman’s U.S.-based racing schedule.

“Since meeting with Helen in 2011, Charm City Cross has forged a kinship with her,” Auer said. “Having a partnership throughout those years allowed our event and I believe women’s cycling to grow.  Working to bring the next and future generations of women into the sport is the next logical step in our collaboration. We are excited to continue working with Helen and the Helen100 in 2021.”

The 2021/22 season is will be the third—and likely final, according to Wyman—edition of the Helen100 Trophy. The first edition of the Helen100 Trophy took place with a Junior Women’s race at Azencross Loenhout in December 2018. The 2019 Trek CX Cup hosted a one-day Junior Women’s race in September 2019 that was won by Bridget Tooley. The Trek event was augmented by a four-race European series that counted Americans Lizzy Gunsalus and Madigan Munro as winners along with 2021 U23 World Champ Fem van Empel and 2020 U23 European Champ Puck Pieterse.

Wyman has attended each of the events thus far, and she said she hopes to be able to attend some of the races this fall. “There will always be work to do, but North American racing has been way ahead of the curve on this and I hope it continues to set standards. Travel permitting, I hope to attend a couple of rounds of the series myself in 2021.”

For more information about the Helen100 series, visit helen100.com.