German National Downhill and Enduro Champion, Raphaela Richter, only entered two EWS races last season, where she placed 2nd and 3rd respectively in the elite women’s category. To ice that cake of impressive gravity prowess, the 22-year-old athlete manages those results without the support of a team or dedicated sponsors. She works as an optician in Germany and only attends the races she can fit into her busy schedule. That’s right, no team mechanic, no one making her meals or booking her flights, no masseuse or team management to deal with the B.S. so she can focus on the race, and, most importantly, no one paying for her race program so she can train instead of working.
Why doesn’t she have these vital resources that most elite level athletes depend on in order churn out peak performance? Your guess is as good as mine. When I’ve asked pro team managers why they don’t have more women on their squads the common reply has been “there simply aren’t any women out there to hire.” Hmm… Someone needs to sponsor this lady, quick.
At the fifth EWS event of 2019 in Les Orres, France, Richter won three of the seven stages, coming in second on every other stage to finish the day in second place behind the series overall winner Isabeau Courdurier. Her only other EWS appearance of 2019 was just up the road in Zermatt Switzerland, where she finished 3rd behind Rocky Mountain’s Andréane Lanthier Nadeau, with Courdurier on the top step. Those results are built on a far longer list of wins Richter earned last year and throughout her impressive U21 career.
I recently chatted with Richter on a break between training and work to get a better idea of who she is and what her racing program will look like for 2020.
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