Claws Out!
Pussycat is Toronto’s first all-female alleycat race. Alleycats are open-city checkpoint bike races that take place in many urban centres around the world. It’s a racing style pioneered right here on the streets of Toronto in 1988. Because of their dangerous, male-dominated nature, many female cyclists have felt intimidated to try or uncomfortable racing the events. Pussycat is for all those ladies who have thought about racing but don’t feel there’s a place for them, and celebrating the incredibly talented, strong women who’ve come before us and paved the way, battling both the covert and sometimes outright hostility of the street cycling scene. It’s for the women who fought to carve out a place for themselves and claw their way to respect, improving the odds for those of us that have come after them. Cycling is hard and has historically often been made harder by some organizers and racers. Well not here, kitty cats. On August 17th in Toronto, let’s flip the script and have an all-female podium for the first time ever. Kitties got claws!
