3,000 women have completed a round-the-world motorcycle relay | GRR
Female motorcyclists are few and far between. But together, they are a force to be reckoned with. Over the past year, a female-driven – or should I say ridden – initiative has seen a baton travel continually around the world, passed between the hands of thousands of women on two wheels.
The idea? To prove just how powerful the global female contingent of bikers is. Named the Women Riders World Relay, the community was founded by Hayley Bell back in 2017, after she launched a social media appeal to find fellow female riders.
Her post snowballed, and soon Hayley, from Warrington, England, found herself inundated with potential riding buddies from all over the world. And so WRWR was born, and with it the idea to hold a world first global relay, setting multiple records along the way.
The relay began in John O’Groats in north-east Scotland in February 2019, before travelling its way down the length of the UK, accompanied by more than 200 female riders. From Kent it crossed to France, working its way through Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and North and South America.
More than 3,528 riders accompanied the baton 102,223km through 79 countries, on a 333-day circumnavigation, which ended on February 15th, 2020.
Through storms, sleet, extreme cold and heat, these thousands of women, many of whom didn’t even speak the same language, broke new ground and smashed the glass ceiling, all the while porting a little wooden baton, a talisman for a new generation of motorcyclists.
Behind the scenes, the 19,000-strong WRWR community supported them, spreading the message online and by word of mouth. There were plenty of celebrations, long days, and some seriously inspirational stories.