We saw ladies come from all over New Zealand (and even Australia) to be a part of this epic event. Let's do a quick re-cap of the day. Goodies bags, drinks stations, event t-shirts, back to basics clinics, chill out zones, Fasthouse Moto Ice Cream relay, drinks and dinner, Saturday Night Live, photographer, demo bikes, band and an absolute tonne of prizes!
The Queens Of Dirt committee finally managed to make this event happen after It's A Girl Gang 1.0 was cancelled due to COVID! We weren't about to let a 'little' bug keep us down but let's not beat around the bush, this was a tough one to pull off in the current climate. The events world is certainly a different space to play in post COVID, but we made it happen thanks to a bit of elbow grease from the committee, our awesome sponsors and of course the amazing ladies that attended!
Queens Of Dirt contracted Burt's Farm to run the trail ride consisting of 4 loops ranging in distance - beginner track, novice track, farmland track and a forest track. It had been very dry leading up to the event and as a result some of the tracks were a little more technical than we had planned for. However, we were absolutely blown away by the positive, give it a go attitude that we saw from ladies particularly at the creek crossing and on the big long powdery hills in the forest. So many ladies stepped right out of their comfort zones and as a result absolutely smashed it. For some, this was the first time crossing a creek and every lady should all be so proud of themselves. A whole bunch of firsts were unlocked, new skills were tackled, confidence grew and the smiles and feedback that we saw and heard was so heart-warming.
We had absolutely perfect ice cream eating weather for our Moto Ice Cream relay sponsored by Fasthouse. It was without a doubt a tonne of chaos but the absolute best kind of chaos you can get! We randomly put girls into teams, gave them a pink armband and an ice cream each and let the chaos unfold. Girls ran to the ice cream station, ate their ice cream and then took off on the track for a quick lap. They then passed their pink armband on to their team mate who did the same ... and so on. But, only one team could be the winner - that honour went to The Rocky Road Runners!
New Zealand has a huge amount of talent and we were lucky enough to have Letitia Alabaster and Melissa Patterson run a back to basics skills clinic, sharing a huge amount of knowledge and skills with our Queens.
At our evening function we had Saturday Night Live hosted by Jane Whitaker. Jane interviewed the amazing Natasha Cairns, Julie Managh and Melissa Patterson. The ladies kindly shared some insights into different aspects of their riding and racing and shared some great advice with our Queens.
The feedback from It's A Girl Gang 2.0 has already been insane. For starters, we had many Queens come to the event on their own. This means no support person tagging along. Many ladies, took that first giant leap and came on their own and holy smokes they found their feet and have now built their own independence with their sport. They can do it on their own!
Debbie Croad said," Best part would be crossing the creek, my first ever! Could've chickened out and got someone else to ride it for me but the support from the crew there was next level! Had so many laughs and my tummy muscles hurt with the best bunch of chicks around. Can't wait for the next one!