SBT GRVL Launches Mentorship Program and Femmes Team Competition to Help More Women Experience Gravel Racing
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From its very start in 2019, SBT GRVL has made attracting more women to gravel a priority. And the success shows as the event field has had at least 30% women every year.
In 2025, SBT features a new format, splitting into a non-race gravel ride on Saturday, and a race on Sunday. Unfortunately, SBT wasn’t seeing nearly as many women signing up for the race as for the ride.
“With SBT’s new format, it became even more clear that women are more disinclined to race, with many more wanting to do the ride, so we wanted to see what that’s about,” said SBT GRVL co-founder Amy Charity.
After surveying cyclists, the SBT GRVL team found some common themes keeping women away from racing: an intimidation factor, especially among younger riders, and a sense of not belonging — that races were for the elite, not them.
With that information, Charity and SBT director of marketing Ryan Steers developed two initiatives to combat those worries: a team based GRVL Femmes competition in the amateur race, and a GRVL Captains mentorship program to guide women through all the steps of preparing for and actually racing the event.
“It’s a way to make women feel like they belong,” Charity said. “It’s still a race, but with a network of buddies.”
The GRVL Teams concept works like a cross country running meet, with riders from each team scoring points based on their placement in the amateur 80-mile course. The team with the lowest overall point total wins. Teams can have as many riders as they like, but only the top three finishers from each team get scored. If Team A riders finish second, fifth, and 12th, and Team B finishes first, 10th, and 15th, then Team A would score 19 points and beat Team B’s 26 points.
Racing with a team provides more incentive to train and race hard. Even when you might not be personally vying for the win, each rider placing as high as possible, no matter where in the field, matters.
However, not every woman has a network of other women to form a team with, and that’s where a second new initiative comes into play, the GRVL Captains program. SBT is working with six highly accomplished Captains who will lead teams and provide mentorship to riders who are new to racing or looking to connect with more women to form a team.
The six captains include road and gravel pro Alison Tetrick, former pro World Cup racer Ellen Noble, former elite gravel racer Christie Tracy, road pro Leah Thorvilson, adventure and long distance cyclist Lani Woods, and Zwift director of women’s strategy Kate Veronneau.
Each Captain is in charge of their own program, and racers get to sign up for whichever captain they like and think most aligns with their own interests, approach to racing, and pace.
Generally, riders can expect shared Zwift rides, team meetings, and camaraderie on race day, though each Captain will do things slightly differently. Racers can also expect events around race weekend to celebrate before and after racing.
Riders can learn more about each Captain and sign up for a team at sbtgrvl.com. SBT GRVL 2025 takes place in and around Steamboat Springs, Colorado the weekend of June 28 and 29.
Though the ever-popular SBT GRVL is sold out already, race organizers have set aside 100 spots for women to sign up for the Captains program. Over half of those spots have been filled already so be sure to sign up soon if you’re interested! Participating in the Captains program is free — racers just have to pay the regular race entry fee.
As SBT GRVL looks to the future, it hopes to keep growing women’s participation in gravel racing through the Teams and Captains programs.
“We hope this takes off as something that’s really growing our numbers,” Charity said. “We’d love to implement it at RADL (in Adelaide, Australia) and all our events.”
Learn more at sbtgrvl.com
