"A Monumental Milestone" — What Women in Rampage Means for Mountain Biking

After twenty three years as a men’s-only event, freeride mountain biking’s iconic Red Bull Rampage will finally see females on course this October.

Katie Holden, mountain bike legend and relentless advocate for gender equity in the bike industry, broke the long-awaited news in an Instagram story. "WE DID IT YOU ALL," she wrote alongside a picture of herself in tears. "The women are in Red Bull Rampage."

The internet was quick to pick up her following posts, including a story in which she thanked the entire mountain bike community for its support. “This moment is an accumulation of every single person that has touched women’s freeride over the years. Every single person. We wouldn’t be here without the women who grinded unrecognized for years, the women who had unfulfilled dreams, the women who had it all but couldn’t get the industry to support it. It all mattered.”

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"If you give them a target, they will hit it in droves.” -Katie Holden

For years, Holden has worked alongside other industry leaders to foster growth, improve opportunity and increase access for women in mountain biking. Last summer, Holden summarized the heart of her advocacy work in a single, incisive post :

“When women are not allowed to compete at the highest levels, it limits earning potential with partners; it limits media coverage; it limits exposure and the generation of a fan base; it creates a shallower talent pool; it limits relevancy; it limits training resources; it limits opportunities. Denying inclusion in events, year after year, digs the women’s field into a deeper hole.”

“The larger conversation here is ensuring that girls and women have an opportunity to be the best they can be (this means investment, media coverage, camps, jams, tools and resources) and creating competitive categories equal to their male counterparts. If you give them a target, they will hit it in droves.”

And, boy howdy, is she ever being proven right. Just a day after the announcement that the 2024 Red Bull Rampage will finally include a women’s field, athletes, advocates and fans everywhere are already eager for October to arrive.

Casey Brown , a decorated athlete whose career has included such highlights as mountain biking Corbett’s Couloir in Jackson Hole , calls the decision the “best news of my life!” Brown has been hoping for a chance to compete at Rampage for years, and thought she might be on track to do so in 2019, after becoming the first — and only — woman at the inaugural Marzocchi Proving Grounds, a qualifier for that year’s Rampage. An unlucky crash, however, sent her into recovery instead of down to Virgin, UT.

“Having a women’s category is the natural progression for Rampage,” Brown says, noting that more and more events, including Proving Grounds, have already added a full women’s field. “It’s been a dream for so long. I’m over the moon.”

"It’s been a dream for so long. I’m over the moon." - Casey Brown

"Time to Get to Work"

Red Bull athlete Hannah Bergemann shares Brown’s excitement. “It’s been a wild journey to get here and it’s going to be a massive moment in history.” Bergemann, who just wrapped up an impressive week unlocking huge sections of the course at Red Bull Hardline in Wales, is already rolling up her Rampage sleeves. “Can’t wait for the fall; time to get to work!”

Rider Chelsea Kimball , whose “Desert Days” event last fall in Utah served as a reminder of freeride’s scrappy history and grassroots ethic , is similarly thrilled. “The news of a women’s category of rampage brings me so much excitement! This is such a huge deal for the sport of mountain biking!”

Action sports photographer, writer and filmmaker Katie Lozancich , who has covered both Holden’s incubator event, Red Bull Formation, as well as Red Bull Rampage calls the decision “monumental."

"Rampage is one of the most streamed events in action sports,” she explains. “This will inspire a new generation of female riders and finally shed light on the many pioneers who have fought tirelessly to be there - and deserve to be.”

And Red Bull athlete Michelle Parker , big mountain skier and long-time women’s freeride advocate and mentor, says she understands Holden’s tears from yesterday. “It’s impossible to not get emotional upon hearing the news, when your entire life has been dedicated to progression in women's sports.”

“Women's freeride mountain biking has been the fastest evolution I have ever witnessed in a sport,” she says, “and each of the athletes that will be invited to the big stage have already shown up and proven the naysayers wrong time and time again. They have collaborated, leveled up, and validated that they deserve a seat at the table - or in this case, an official countdown over the loudspeaker - as the eager crowd awaits their Rampage runs."

"I will be in that crowd, tears flowing no doubt, watching these women live out a long awaited dream come true. I am beyond proud of everyone who played a role in shaping this reality, but most of all the athletes for stepping up, taking initiative and seeing it all through.”

"It Doesn't End Here"

And while Holden is allowing herself at least one day of rest and celebration, she is also quick to call the decision more of a starting point than a finish line. “This moment is a biggie,” she says, “But it doesn’t end here. The talent is about to go off, and we have a lifelong commitment as pieces in this giant puzzle to continue to lay the groundwork, create space, stand up for things that matter, and use our voices for good for all that are to come.”