Letters: Encourage women to take part in cycling races; Veterans memorial committee in transition

Encourage women to take part in cycling races

The Happy Valley Womens Cycling Team wants to change the status quo in our cycling community and have more women represented in cycling events and races. In most cycling races, women represent barely 10% of the registered riders. For our upcoming gravel race, Rothrock Grit on June 6, we are working toward having 50% of the registrants be women. We have even reserved 150 of the 300 slots for women.

We are actively working with other cycling teams and clubs to promote our race, and as woman race directors we want to encourage more women to ride. It will be amazing to have many first time Gravel Grinders and racers at Grit.

We believe that men and women of all ages, races, shapes and sizes can participate in our event. We want to empower women, increase their self confidence and reduce gender stereotypes. To ensure that men and women of all abilities can be successful at our race, we are offering three different race lengths from 25 miles to 65 miles.

I hope that ‪more women ‬would like to partner with us and support more women cycling. We would love to have you share this with friends you ride with. We will not be able to hit our 50/50 female/male registration without women like you spreading the word. Also, we plan to donate 100% of our proceeds back to the community.

Veterans memorial committee in transition

In the near future, we will be facing a changing of the guards at the Committee for a Moshannon Valley Veterans Memorial. Two of the current seven members have been connected with this project from as far back as 2000. Four came aboard in 2003. Our roster has dwindled. A number of individuals have died.

The time is rapidly approaching for the torch to be passed. We will be conducting nominations for the 2020 board Feb. 17th at 7 p.m. at the Moshannon Valley AMVETS in Philipsburg. We ask interested veterans to attend, but all are invited. It is not critical that the baton be passed immediately. Many of our officers will be willing to return, but it is critical that new members start attending our meetings and begin learning the ropes. The next couple of years must be viewed as a transition period.

True, the task of erecting our memorial has been accomplished, but we can’t rest on our laurels. Many are under the impression that the major work is over. This is not the case. The annual maintenance cost runs at about $4,000. This includes liability insurance, electricity and water, landscaping, pond and lawn maintenance as well as flag replacement costs. We are also attempting to start a perpetual-care fund and have benches and picnic tables and a chicken barbecue firepit to maintain.

When the drive for the memorial started, public support for the cause was huge. We need a similar turnout on Feb. 17.