Yesterday at the Granada Theatre in Emporia, Kans. there was a stark contrast between the men’s and women’s podiums for the Dirty Kanza 200 ultra-endurance bike race. The five top women took their places and waved at the audience of locals, other racers, and support crew. The men no-showed.
To give men’s winner Colin Strickland some credit, he was late, and he took his place on the stage towards the end of the awards ceremony. But the damage may have been already done as images of both podiums spread on social media.
All 10 riders are pro racers, which understandably creates complicated travel schedules. Even at the most elite levels of cycling, there often isn’t much time to celebrate a good result before hitting the road in search of the next race. And among the age-group podiums also celebrated on Sunday, there were occasional absences. Dirty Kanza can be a brutal race, and the 2019 edition was no exception. The course ran along gravel roads through the rolling terrain of the Flint Hills north of Emporia. In soaring heat and humidity, 870 out of 1,196 starters finished, the last reaching the line in 20 hours, 43 minutes, and 55 seconds—Strickland’s record-setting time, for contrast, was 9:58:49. Some people were understandably too beaten up to stand on stage.