Australia will get a new Women's Continental team in 2023, partly bankrolled by crowdfunding, after a large anonymous donation of $100,000 helped turn plans to address a shrinking of development opportunities for domestic riders into a reality.
The new Australian-based Women's Continental Team, which is set to play a part in rebuilding the stepping stones as a global upswing in the top level of women's cycling takes hold, plans to compete in the National Road Series (NRS) and beyond. It will run alongside the Team BridgeLane men's squad, which in its various forms has provided a crucial pathway into the European peloton for over two decades.
The new team began to take shape when Pat Shaw kicked off a crowd funding campaign, as not long after he taken up the role of directeur sportif for the women’s team at Inform TMX Make he was told it would join the ranks of the NRS squads disappearing from the scene. In a bid to try and help those athletes left behind Shaw, a cyclist who competed both domestically and internationally before retiring in 2016, came up with a plan to deliver a team with a budget large enough to provide meaningful opportunities – in the order of $250,000 to $400,000 – through the combination of crowdfunding and sponsorship.
The crowdfunding, which also delivered the benefit of providing a broad supporter base, received widespread backing from the Australian cycling community. Professional riders like Chloe Hosking, Grace Brown, Amanda Spratt, Luke Plapp and Simon Clarke quickly jumped on board and donations mounted, however, the funds raised were still well short of the $100,000 goal.
“Then in a chance moment, as if it was fate, an incredibly generous human found themselves reading The Guardian article that was written for the project,” Shaw said in an update on the GoFundMe page. “Inspired and wanting to help out they donated $100k, which instantly turned our project from possibility to probability.”
With that important part of the puzzle in place Shaw turned to Andrew Christie-Johnston, who had already played a pivotal role in the cycling development of many notable Australian cyclists including Richie Porte, Jack Haig and Ben O’Connor. Christie-Johnston had already been trying to find a way to add a women’s squad to Team BridgeLane and this turned out to be it.
"For many years, a goal of ours and our major partners has been to play a more significant role in supporting women's cycling here in Australia, and the moment has finally arrived," said Team BridgeLane in a statement announcing the addition of the Women's Continental team for the 2023 season and beyond.
Donna Rae-Szalinski has also joined the team's leadership bringing her extensive experience of the development pathway, right from her time as a young rider heading overseas with the Australian team to her years as a coach, directeur sportif and now as director of pathways at AusCycling.
“I’m incredibly excited for what our combined experience can offer our athletes,” said Shaw. “We have several riders signed and eager to get the news out. Riders from U19, U23 and Elite. All sharing important core values, team work, culture, willingness to sacrifice for each other and a desire to achieve the best possible outcome as a team.
“It is incredibly exciting news that with Andrew Christie-Johnston we have been able to create a new opportunity for domestic female cyclists and now that the dream is a reality we cannot wait to pin the numbers on for the first time in January.”
