Do women need a head start at ultra events?

So, at the start of the Pan Celtic Race, 2023, the organiser asked all the female riders to come to the start of the race. There were about 35 of us, out of the 306 entrants. We were excited to be sharing that space together. We fully understood that images of us all could be used to inspire other women to enter these intimidating events.

What happened next kinda felt a bit weird, and I was to ponder on it over the next few days whilst riding through Brittany. We were set off first, apparently, according to the organiser, to give us a head start. I totally understood that the organiser meant well. They thought they were doing it from a place of compassion.

There are two issues I have with this (and not the organiser, personally, it’s a cultural issue).

1. It perpetuates the idea that women are weak and fragile. That we needed for the event to be made easier for us. Now this is different to creating equity and a level playing field in other competitive cycling events, because of reason 2
2. Females have a very slight physiological advantage over ultra distance events, which helps to level the playing field. If more women competed in these multiday endurance events, we would be winning more. The longer the race, the bigger the advantage we have.

Let me explain the science behind this.

In the simplest of terms, and this is very much a generalisation, men are carb burners and women are fat burners, due to our different hormone profiles. In shorter events, where pure speed and strength are a bigger factor, men have the physiological advantage because of their higher testosterone levels. For these ultra endurance events it becomes less about speed, and more about duration, consistency and resilience. The other important factor is substrate use, that is the source of energy that keeps us pedalling. Females are able to tap into fat reserves a little easier.

Imagine a sliding scale where at one end you have low energy activities, just sitting on the sofa existing, maybe scrolling on your phone, and the other end you have 10 second, all out 100 meter sprints (think Usain Bolt). In the middle it ranges from walking, steady social cycling, 1 hour strength and plyometric workouts, building to 100 milers, like Ride London, and 2 to 5 hour intense road races, etc. 

At the lower end of the scale you are utilisation fat for energy. It takes a few steps more to convert fat into a form of energy our muscles can use than carbs, so it’s ideal for when not a lot of energy is needed. 

When the rate at which we need energy increases, i.e. higher efforts, we also start using the carbohydrates, stored as glycogen, in the muscles, and when this runs out, the glycogen stored in the liver. We can eat more carbohydrates to top up this resource, using oxygen to convert it into energy, but we are limited by how much we can digest per hour and the oxygen passed through our lungs. You’ll be familiar with the term aerobic exercise. This is what that refers to.

At the sprinters end of the scale, the huge amounts of energy are needed at such a fast rate, we don’t even have time to convert carbohydrates using oxygen, we just have about 10 seconds of energy that’s immediately available for our muscles without the conversion using oxygen – and you'll have heard this referred to as an anaerobic effort.

On this sliding scale, we don’t switch from fat burning to carb burning. We gradually increase the carb burning to supplement the fat burning as the effort level increases.

This is where males and females differ. As I mentioned before, men are more dependant on carbohydrates, and women are naturally more biased towards fat utilisation. (As a side note, this is why the fasted ride protocol was developed, as it improves the efficiency at burning fat instead of carbs in males. In a fasted state carb levels are depleted, forcing the body to turn to fat for energy. It was never intended as a method for women. It’s bad for you, please don’t do it!)

The point at which we start relying more on carbs is at a higher effort level than males. We are able to depend on the never ending supply of energy from fat for a little longer than males. This is ideal for ultra distance events where pure power is less of a factor. We can tick off the miles at a steady effort burning fat, whilst keeping on top of replacing carbohydrates. Where males may struggle to keep on top of their carb requirements, due to the limitations of how much can be digested per hour, after a few days of constant effort, women fare much better, are less likely to feel heavily fatigued, or experience extreme energy fluctuations.

In 2023 a 52 year old woman, Isa Pulver, was the fastest solo RAAM rider. That’s a 3,100 mile race across the width of America. On the start line there were 6 women, 4 of which finished, and 24 men (16 finished). For the data nerds, there was a 20/80% female/male split riders, 66% of the women finished, 60% of the men finished. 40% of the top 5 and 30% of the top 10 were females, even though they only made up 20% of the starters.

This wasn’t a one off or fluke.

2022, 3 women and 30 men started. 66% (2) of the women finished, but only 40% of the men. One of the women finished in the top 5.

2021 only 2 women and 10 men started. Leah Goldstein famously won that year, where only 20% of the men even reached the finish line.

If more women entered ultra distance events, more would be winning them.

If you have ambitions to add to these statistics I want to talk to you!!

Focused, female specific training and nutrition can not only get you to the finish line, but also be in at the competitive end of the field. Harness your superpowers!