Women Cyclists Gather at the Yoplait Nouriche Summit

Conference is part of the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival

First of two 2006 Summits to take place in Minneapolis

Summit Website

The Great River Energy Bicycle Festival will be the site of the next Yoplait Nouriche Women’s Cycling Summit.  Topics on the agenda include gaining recognition for women in male-dominated sports and entry level programming for women. 

The keynote speaker will be NASCAR driver Kari Miller. Miller will discuss the challenges that she faces in a sport that has historically been the exclusive domain of men.  She races in the weekly NASCAR series at the Shakopee track.  Racing against men, she has scored wins in the Bomber and Short Track division and now races in the Late Model Division.  Miller will be driving the pace car at the Nature Valley Grand Prix’s Minneapolis Downtown Classic and Stillater Criterium later in the week. 

The subject will then turn to parallel challenges faced by women in cycling, with a leadoff talk by former US National Champion and 2002 Nature Valley Grand Prix Champion Laura Van Gilder.  Miller will then join Van Gilder for a panel discussion that will include Jim Williams, the manager of Colavita Cooking Light, the top ranked women’s team in North America.

The second session of the Yoplait Nouriche Summit will focus on grassroots programming for women.  The leadoff speaker will be Susy Pryde, the former professional racer who now coaches the New Zealand national women’s development team sponsored by Jazz Apple.  The panel discussion that follows will include Pryde, Midwest Cycling Made Real’s Paula Plant, Bethany Collins, manager of the Colorado-based Rio Grande/Sports Garage team and USA Cycling Level II Coach Fiona Lockhart. 

The Yoplait Nouriche Women’s Cycling Summit will be held at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, June 13, at the Kelly Inn in Saint Paul.  The Summit is free and open to the public. 

About the Yoplait Nouriche Women’s Cycling Summits

 The Yoplait Summits, which are now sponsored by Yoplait Nouriche, began at the 2003 Great River Energy Bicycle Festival with the mission of building women’s cycling through networking and education.  The Summits take place twice annually: at the Festival in June and at the Interbike trade show in October. 

For more information, visit www.WomenCyclists.com or send E mail to Summits@WomenCyclists.com