ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605280092
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
CLARA HUGHES RIDES for team Saturn, as do four other women who take their sport very seriously.
Never underestimate the power of kindness.
In last year's Saturn Festival Cup criterium race, Clara Hughes had such a large lead, she lapped the field. She had company in her effort; a lone cyclist who, feeling terrible but desperate for a high finish, asked Hughes to drag her along. Not literally, of course, but if Hughes let the weary wheeler, Bonnie Breeze, draft behind her, Breeze wouldn't have to use so much energy.
Male members of team Saturn, witnessing Breeze hug Hughes' back wheel, were appalled. They implored Hughes to shake her off. But Breeze had promised not to sprint at the end, and Hughes welcomed her to ride with her.
``The guys were like, `That would never happen in one of our races,''' said Fred McElmurray, general manager of Saturn of Roanoke Valley.
Fortunately, female cyclists in North America rarely are so misunderstood.
They may not be included when the Tour DuPont makes its annual swing through the area, and they rarely make headlines, or the news at all, but female cyclists have a following as intense as any the men can claim. In North America in particular, it's not an issue of sex, but instead one of sport.
``In North America, fans are more accepting [of female cycling], and are not as ready to compare the two,'' said Hughes, 23, who returns to Roanoke this weekend for Sunday's ROC Hillclimb and Monday's Saturn Festival Cup. ``Europe is great, but I feel as an athlete we get more respect in North America.
``Saturn also gives us respect of being pro athletes. You don't often feel that as a woman athlete.''
``Saturn treats them as equals,'' said spokeswoman Joan Parker.
Two years after it got into cycling, Saturn decided to start a women's program. Citing statistics that said more than 50 percent of the car company's customers were female, it brought in three women for the 1994 season. Two of those original members, Jeanne Golay and Julie Young, still are team members. Five of Saturn's 16 riders for the 1996 team are women. Hughes said there are other teams with greater numbers of women, but team director Tom Schuler ``felt the quality of our five riders was so great, there was no need for additions.''
Two of the team's riders have won the PowerBar International Women's Challenge (the women's equivalent of the Tour DuPont), Hughes in 1994 and Dede Demet in 1995.
Golay is the current women's national road race champion. Earlier this week, four Saturn riders placed in the top 22 in the Olympic women's cycling road trials in Martinsburg, W.Va. Golay was sixth and Demet eighth.
Hughes, a Canadian, was not at the trials, but she already has Olympic spots sealed in the pursuit and individual time trial events. Her schedule allowed her to return to Roanoke for the Festival Cup, along with teammate Scott McKinley and fellow Canadian cycling great Steve Bauer.
A desire to compete in both the winter and summer Olympic Games first led Hughes into cycling. Inspired by the 1988 winter games in Calgary, Alberta, her best sport as a youth in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was speed skating. Two years later, organizers for the Western Canada Games were looking for women to enter their cycling events, and Hughes decided to cross over.
Although she's played hockey, baseball and soccer, she said her most serious competition has come in individual sports. ``I like cycling because you have a balance of both team and individual sports,'' she said.
Hughes seeks a similar balance in her off-road life.
Living in Hamilton, Ontario, she enjoys her time away from the cycling circuit, which last year took her to 15,000 miles of racing from February to October. Hughes loves to read and enjoys doing artwork, particularly painting picture frames.
The daughter of an art collector, she recently started her collection by purchasing a painting while at a race in Colombia.
``I've gained a lot of life experiences,'' she said. ``I've seen a lot of cultures, things you don't learn in a university. It's really been invaluable.''
Hughes also likes down-to-earth pastimes such as reading her horoscope (she's a proud Libra) and going to movies at The Broadway in Hamilton. Her favorites are classics and foreign films. ``Not all the action,'' she said. ``I find them more pure, geared into the characters more.''
The road is full of action. With Hughes, there is room out there to be human, too.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: headshot of Hughes colorby CNB