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(Photo: Montane Spine Race)
2. Cape Epic changes elite women's race to match men's duration instead of distance 🚲
What is Cape Epic?
Another wild event, Cape Epic is an eight-day mountain bike stage race held in South Africa since 2004. It's one of the most well-known and famous mountain bike races — a kind of "Mountain Bike Tour de France" 🚵♀️ that changes routes every year, but always covers about 430 miles along the country's Western Cape.
The event is raced in two-person teams, who must stay together, and the fastest combined time for all the stages wins.
What is changing?
While the Cape Epic route changes every year, it's always been a prologue + seven stages of mountain bike racing. Teams of men, women, and mixed teams (one man + one woman) have always covered the same distances across those stages.
However, the race organizers announced that this year the elite women's race route will be planned to match the elite men's race in duration, not in distance.
This means on six of the stages the elite women will cover a different route. On point-to-point stages, the elite women will get a separate start. The total women's route will be about 75 miles shorter in sum over the eight days.
But the goal, which was reached in consulting with the pro female riders, is to have the broadcasts align the men's and women's coverage in time and to make it easier to follow and promote the women's race. With professional women's cycling growing, there has also been debate over duration v. distance, increases in racing, and athlete load over the season.
6x champion Annika Langvad:
“We were brought into this process by a team who did the work — who asked the right questions, studied the data, and listened to the riders, experts, and industry opinions."
***The change is only for the elite women's race, not for the Masters racers, mixed teams, or amateur athletes.
3. PWHL Takeover Tour 🏒
And with women's pro leagues booming, the Pro Women's Hockey League has used its Takeover Tour — ie. bringing hockey games to cities that don't yet have teams — to grow the brand and love of the game, and to test out new markets.
Oh, and to set some records while we're at it! This past weekend's match in D.C. set a record for highest attendance for a women's hockey game in the U.S. with 17,228 fans. The game, between the Montreal Victoire and the New York Sirens, also ended in a fight and then a photo.
The rest of the 2026 Takeover Tour — with a break for the Olympics:
🏒 Jan. 25: Denver, CO (Vancouver v. Seattle)
🏒 March 15: Denver, CO (New York v. Minnesota)
🏒 March 22: Winnipeg, MB (Montreal v. Ottawa)
🏒 March 25: Chicago, IL (New York v. Seattle)
🏒 March 28: Detroit, MI (New York v. Montreal)
🏒 April 1: Calgary, AB (Toronto v. Ottawa)
🏒 April 7: Edmonton, AB (Boston v. Vancouver)
Welcoming Trail Society to the Feisty Family 🎧
Trail Society, the pioneering show from professional trail runners Keely Henninger, Corrine Malcolm, and Hillary Allen, is now joining your favorite podcast family. (That's us! Feisty Media!)
The trio use their experience as athletes and scientists to dive deep into the world of trail running, foster community, and tackle questions of training, racing, and equality. And you don't want to miss their first episode of 2026 with Western States winner Abby Hall. |
