PRESS RELEASE: The New England Serotta Women’s Elite Series
Wednesday, March 17, 2004


THE NEW ENGLAND SEROTTA WOMEN’S ELITE SERIES

The New England Serotta Women’s Elite Series is a new race
series for category 1 and 2 women. This is a result of
disappointment by the fact that several favorite local
races that had previously had women’s 1-2 fields canceled
those races while adding more mens’ fields. A group of
women decided, therefore, to do something to show their
support and attempt to ensure that canceling W 1-2 races
does not become the "norm" by creating the new series.

The Serotta Elite Women’s Elite Series consists of fifteen
races from April-August all over New England and Eastern
New York. These races also do not overlap with other
large or NRC races that traditionally draw big W1/2
fields. Each race in the series will result in points for
performance, as well as a yellow jersey, thanks to
Hincapie sports, for the series leader at each race. At
the end of the series, there are excellent prizes for the
top individual places as well as a team overall prize.
The grand individual prize, though, is a custom fit Legend
Ti Serotta frame with fork! Complete details and links can
be found at: http://www.geocities.com/ne_women_cyclists
There is also a yahoo!groups email server being used to
generate support and ideas to those involved.

The primary goals of the series are to ensure that W1/2
racing continues to thrive in New England, to provide
motivation to category 1 and 2 women to continue racing
regularly in regional events, to demonstrate to local
promoters that there are sufficient numbers of elite women
to continue offering races for those categories, and
furthermore to add incentive to category 3 riders who
might be hesitant to upgrade to category 2. The series
therefore results in a win-win situation for those
promoters whose races are in the series, as they can hope
for a larger, more competetive field, and for racers, who
get an opportunity to show support for the sport and
category they love for themselves and for future racers.

photos by Jonathan McElvery, Jack Milton, and BikeReg.com