Low entries force cancellation of women’s Kennel Hill Classic
The women’s Kennel Hill Classic has been cancelled after attracting 21 entries despite a three-day extension, removing one of the few early-season women’s road opportunities on the Goodwood roads where Mandy Jones won the 1982 world title.
The women’s Kennel Hill Classic has been cancelled because of low entries, dealing an early blow to an already thin domestic women’s road calendar.
The race had been due to take place at Goodwood on Saturday 28 March as a National B event promoted by Racing Club Ravenna. Its loss is not just another late change to the fixture list. It would have been only the second women’s National B road race of the season, after the Peak 2 Day earlier this month, and only the third national road race for women in the UK in 2026.
That alone gives the cancellation a weight beyond one event disappearing from the diary. Britain does not have a deep enough women’s road calendar for races at this level to fall away without consequence. Every cancellation narrows the season further, reducing opportunities for riders to race, for teams to build momentum, and for organisers to believe that putting on standalone women’s events remains viable.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to cancel the women’s Kennel Hill Classic because of low entries. We had 21 entries, and I needed 36 just to cover costs without offering prize money
Explaining the decision, organiser Seb Ottley said the numbers simply did not work, even after entries were kept open for longer.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to cancel the women’s Kennel Hill Classic because of low entries. We had 21 entries, and I needed 36 just to cover costs without offering prize money. I extended the entry for three days but no one else entered after the original closing date.”
Ottley said he had considered whether changing the prize structure might make the race workable, but concluded it still would not solve the problem.
“I did consider reducing the prize money, because the field size was roughly half that of the men’s race, but even then I would still have needed around 45 entries to break even. In the end, the numbers just didn’t stack up.”
Image: Ian Wrightson/The British Continental
The Kennel Hill Classic had started to carve out a place of its own on the southern calendar. Run on the roads around Goodwood, with the drag of Kennel Hill shaping the race, it offered one of the few early-season one-day tests for women outside the headline fixtures. In a landscape where opportunities are already limited, that mattered.
Its setting gives the cancellation an added historical sting. The race uses roads associated with the 1982 World Championships at Goodwood, where Mandy Jones became Britain’s first women’s road world champion.
What I’m struggling with is how we’ve gone from 65 entries in years one, two and three, down to 40 last year and 21 this year
For Ottley, the scale of the drop-off is itself hard to explain.
“What I’m struggling with is how we’ve gone from 65 entries in years one, two and three, down to 40 last year and 21 this year. That’s the really difficult part to understand.”
The cancellation may feel particularly acute in regional terms too.
“It’s one of only two women’s National B road races in the south east, and there aren’t any at all in the south region, which makes it even more disappointing to lose it,” said Ottley.
While the women’s race has been cancelled, the open Kennel Hill Classic will still go ahead as planned after attracting a full field of entries, plus reserves.
There will, no doubt, be questions about why entries were low in this particular case. Was it the position in the calendar, rider priorities, team budgets, travel, confidence in field size, or a wider contraction in the women’s domestic scene? The answer is unlikely to be one thing alone. But the fact the race has gone is significant in itself.
Featured image: Ian Wrightson/The British Continental
The women’s Kennel Hill Classic has been cancelled because of low entries, dealing an early blow to an already thin domestic women’s road calendar.
The race had been due to take place at Goodwood on Saturday 28 March as a National B event promoted by Racing Club Ravenna. Its loss is not just another late change to the fixture list. It would have been only the second women’s National B road race of the season, after the Peak 2 Day earlier this month, and only the third national road race for women in the UK in 2026.
That alone gives the cancellation a weight beyond one event disappearing from the diary. Britain does not have a deep enough women’s road calendar for races at this level to fall away without consequence. Every cancellation narrows the season further, reducing opportunities for riders to race, for teams to build momentum, and for organisers to believe that putting on standalone women’s events remains viable.
Explaining the decision, organiser Seb Ottley said the numbers simply did not work, even after entries were kept open for longer.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had to cancel the women’s Kennel Hill Classic because of low entries. We had 21 entries, and I needed 36 just to cover costs without offering prize money. I extended the entry for three days but no one else entered after the original closing date.”
Ottley said he had considered whether changing the prize structure might make the race workable, but concluded it still would not solve the problem.
“I did consider reducing the prize money, because the field size was roughly half that of the men’s race, but even then I would still have needed around 45 entries to break even. In the end, the numbers just didn’t stack up.”
The Kennel Hill Classic had started to carve out a place of its own on the southern calendar. Run on the roads around Goodwood, with the drag of Kennel Hill shaping the race, it offered one of the few early-season one-day tests for women outside the headline fixtures. In a landscape where opportunities are already limited, that mattered.
Its setting gives the cancellation an added historical sting. The race uses roads associated with the 1982 World Championships at Goodwood, where Mandy Jones became Britain’s first women’s road world champion.
For Ottley, the scale of the drop-off is itself hard to explain.
“What I’m struggling with is how we’ve gone from 65 entries in years one, two and three, down to 40 last year and 21 this year. That’s the really difficult part to understand.”
The cancellation may feel particularly acute in regional terms too.
“It’s one of only two women’s National B road races in the south east, and there aren’t any at all in the south region, which makes it even more disappointing to lose it,” said Ottley.
While the women’s race has been cancelled, the open Kennel Hill Classic will still go ahead as planned after attracting a full field of entries, plus reserves.
There will, no doubt, be questions about why entries were low in this particular case. Was it the position in the calendar, rider priorities, team budgets, travel, confidence in field size, or a wider contraction in the women’s domestic scene? The answer is unlikely to be one thing alone. But the fact the race has gone is significant in itself.
Featured image: Ian Wrightson/The British Continental
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