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It was the final day of the Tour de France Femmes and my husband was glued to the TV. Knowing that there was no way I was going to convince him to switch channels, I sat down (reluctantly) to watch, thinking that maybe the French scenery would be good – as I was fairly certain I wouldn’t be captivated by the cycling action.
But that all changed as I became engrossed in the fascinating race action. Demi Vollering, who started the final stage in eighth position, one minute 15 seconds behind overall leader, Katarzyna Niewiadoma, attacked early and on the tough final climb, with nine kilometres to go, had built a lead of 1:10 over Niewiadoma – enough to secure the overall win with time bonuses if she could hold on.
However, Niewiadoma fought back, cutting the gap and then losing time again. The lead yoyoed and it was impossible to predict who was going to be the winner.
If Vollering won the stage, her time bonus meant Niewiadoma’s needed to be within 1 min 5 seconds to be the overall winner of the world’s premier cycling event. Vollering won, and then had an agonising wait for Niewiadoma to cross the line. The margin was so tight that both riders (and millions of TV viewers around the world) had no idea of the final result. When the teams got confirmation, Niewiadoma burst into tears as she heard she had won by just four seconds – the closest margin in Grand Tour history.
This stage is probably the most exciting final stage in Tour de France history, for the men and the women, arguably even better than the infamous Greg Lemond vs Laurent Fignon battle of 1989.
As a woman, my attitude to watching women’s sport is not unusual. According to a global study “From Moment to Mainstream: What Consumers in 7 Countries Really Think About Sports,” 23% of men watch women's sports daily or weekly, compared to 15% of women, silencing assumptions that women's sports fans are primarily women. Added to this, 30% of men around the world are watching more women's sports in 2024 compared to 2023.
But for women’s sport really to come into its own on a global level, women also need to be showing an interest and watching women’s sport. So how do we get more woman to do this?
Firstly, there needs to be a buy in from the sports administrators. They need to make a concerted effort to promote women’s sport. A good example of this is the Woman’s Football World Cup where FIFA promoted the tournament to such an extent that in just four years from 2019 to 2023 the viewership grew to over 2 billion, an increase of around 79 percent on the previous tournament.
Secondly, women’s sport needs “heroes” that other women admire and look up to. This will spark their interest in a sport. Probably the best current example is Simone Biles. She pulled out of the Tokyo Olympics due to mental health issues and received a lot of criticism, but that did not deter her. She returned to the 2024 Paris Olympics and won three gold medals and one silver, winning the individual all-around competition and cementing her position as the best gymnast of all time.
Closer to home, the likes of Tatjana Smith, the South African swimmer who won one gold and one silver medal at the Paris Olympics, and Jo-Ane van Dyk, the javelin thrower who won a silver, are ideal role models for all those young aspiring South African sports fans.
Thirdly, women in general need to participate more in sport. If you have played a sport or participated in a sport, you are much more likely to show an interest in it.
And this is where the Spar Women’s Challenge, a national 10 km run/walk series, really comes into its own. By putting on a women’s-only event, women tend to rally and want to be part of an event that celebrates women. That is not to say that women need to have a lot of events catering solely for them, but by having some women-focussed events, it definitely encourages participation and helps prevent women being intimidated from competing with (and against) men.
If events can get women taking part, once that sports bug bites, there is no going back.
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At FinishTime, we have always prided ourselves on providing the latest in cutting-edge sports timing technology. We develop and use the latest innovations, combined with the very best in race timing software, to ensure the quickest and most accurate results possible, as well as providing a host of optional extras to ensure race organisers and participants have the best possible experience at events.
 And this why, in 2020 during lockdown, we developed the FinishTime Passport app to make registration fast, safe, simple and secure. Since then, hundreds of races have used the innovative app to speed up and simplify their registration process.
The app (which can be downloaded before race day from the Apple App Store, Google Play Store or via direct download for Huawei owners) creates an up-to-date, fast and paperless registration process for events which opt to use the app in conjunction with the FinishTime administration and timing system. Entrants can update and fill in their information before arriving at the race venue which means shorter queues and a quicker registration process – and of course a fast registration means shorter queues and happier participants.
The app has been designed to be completely secure. Firstly, all data is stored on your mobile and no data will be transferred until you allow the app to create a QR code, and the information transferred is only those details you provide to the race organisers. Secondly, the transfer process is handled completely offline, so there is absolutely no chance of a data hack during transfer (once the app has been loaded to your phone, the transfer does not even need a phone signal or WiFi – the transfer of information is handled via line-of-sight QR-code scanning).
If you are doing an event that is using the FinishTime Passport app, and you are unsure how to use the innovative registration system, please click HERE and to see how the Passport and RaceTek timing systems integrate, please click HERE.
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