Back to school for the girls

In keeping with the FIM 'Women Ride' campaign to promote and develop female participation in motorcycle sport, the first of three FIM Women’s Trial training camps took place earlier this month. Organised and coordinated by ex FIM Women’s Trial World champion Iris Kramer, thirty-one female riders took part in three days of dedicated trials training. Riders travelled from all over Europe to arrive at the specialist venue in Grobheubach, Germany, which will also host the opening round of the 2011 FIM Women’s Trial World Championship and the second round of the 2011 UEM Women’s Trial European Championship on 20/21 August. With six experienced teachers on hand, the class was split into groups with no more than six students per tutor, to ensure maximum time was spent in a highly focused environment. The three days were made up of a mixture of practical and theory lessons, with each rider spending at least six hours per day on their respective machines. Since retiring from international competition at the end of 2009, Iris Kramer has devoted her time to helping others involved in the sport, which she loves so much. Now working as a member of the FIM Women’s commission Iris is keen to see new female riders enter this discipline, “This was the first of three training schools which we are running this year and it was a huge success.” “We invited girls from all over Europe to take part and had a fantastic response with over thirty riders in attendance. I was very pleased to see that we had girls as young as nine trying bigger sections for the first time, as well as riders that were well into their fifties who also learnt a lot during the three days.” “It was also good to have riders of different ability attend the school. We had two groups of World championship level riders, two groups of European B class level riders and two groups of novice riders.” “We tried to include some of the terrain which will be used for the World and European sections later in the year, in order to give the riders an insight in to what to expect.” “Personally it was fantastic to see so many up and coming female riders, the FIM actively encourages new riders to the sport and it is important to continue with this for the future of Trial. As part of this, riders who already hold an FIM licence are invited to attend these training schools free of charge,” continued Iris. The remaining two 2011 training camps are set to take place in Australia and Sweden, details of which can be found below. Australia: FIM Woman’s Trial training camp 16/18 July
Venue: Pacific Park, Sydney
Address: IM Australian Womans Training Camperama,
274 Pacific Park Road, South Maroota NSW 2756
Person Responsible: Kevin Zarczynski, Tel.: (+61) (0)401 431 629
Email: womenscamp2011@hotmail.com
Sweden: FIM Woman’s Trial & Enduro training camp 23/24 July
Venue: Uddevalla, Sweden
Club: BMK Uddevalla
Address: Glimmingen 120, 45192 Uddevalla
Person responsible: Lars Nyberg
Email: lars.nyberg@svemo.se