Battle of the Sexes Puma Mile LIVE Friday at 7:45pm PT
 | posted by AnnGaff, a Women Talk Sports blogger About AnnGaff: Chief Technical Officer, Women Talk Sports. I competed in Track & Field and Cross-Country in college at the University of Nebraska and competed professionally in Track & Field (3000m Steeplechase) fr...more |
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The 2009 Puma Mile was for men only and winner David Torrance got a $3,000 one-year contract with Puma. There was no women's race.
This year, the Puma Mile page on Flotrack stated that the winner would receive a $10,000 contract. I scanned the rules and noticed that for a second year in a row, the race would be "male-only."
After some careful thought, I posted a comment on the page using my Flotrack account:
For the 2nd straight year, Puma holds a mens-only race. Last year the excuse was, the economy was tough and there wasn't enough money for prize money for a men's and women's race. What's the excuse now?
Maybe there is a logical reason, and if so, I'd like to hear it.
Sorry, I hate to be negative, but this is just too wrong.
I heard nothing, not that I expected to, but checked back a couple weeks later and noticed that the rules had been changed from "Male-only" to say "Male (sub 4:05 mile), Female (sub 4:48 mile) *Difference between men's WR and women's WR is ~29 seconds. Women will be given a 29.43 second head start."
Success! They had (quietly) conceded and allowed women to have a shot at the contract. I was a bit bummed though, because it was so close to race day that I feared they would have a tough time getting good women to make the arrangements to come. Arrangements involve not only booking travel but also changing your season plans to taper for a different race. The men knew well in advance that they had this opportunity.
Nevertheless, a few strong women have entered, notably Great Britain's Barbara Parker, a 2008 Olympian in the steeplechase (and former national record holder) and USA's Shayla Houlihan, who I interviewed earlier this week and who also has a fun Flotrack video up of her preparations for this race.
The mile race will be run on the track at the Mt. SAC Relays tonight at 7:45pm PT. It will be shown live HERE on Flotrack.org and I will be commentating along with Flotrack's Ryan Fenton. If you haven't checked out Flotrack.org, you should do so. They have videos of interviews and races from loads of top track meets around the nation and world.
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- Filed Under:
- Track & Field, Sports, SportsPLUS, Discrimination/Title IX, Events
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This post is related to an event on our Calendar:
- Mt SAC Relays
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