Women Shred pairs cycling with film at Bentonville Film Festival

Women Shred pairs cycling with film at BFF

Photo courtesy of Women Shred Riders celebrate during a Women of Oz group ride on Northwest Arkansas-area trails. Women of Oz will be offering a group ride at 5:45 p.m. May 9 beginning at Lawrence Plaza on Northeast A Street as part of Women Shred activities at the Bentonville Film Festival. The ride is free, and no advance registration is required.
Photo courtesy of Women Shred Riders celebrate during a Women of Oz group ride on Northwest Arkansas-area trails. Women of Oz will be offering a group ride at 5:45 p.m. May 9 beginning at Lawrence Plaza on Northeast A Street as part of Women Shred activities at the Bentonville Film Festival. The ride is free, and no advance registration is required.

Wheels and reels will roll alike when Women Shred brings women's biking to the Bentonville Film Festival.

Women Shred, the inspiration of Belgian husband and wife duo Fien Lammertyn and Kenny Belaey, seeks to pair the diversity of the film festival with cycling and depictions of strong, influential females in film, Lammertyn says.

FYI

BFF Women Shred

Women Shred events and activities will take place in and around Lawrence Plaza on Northeast A Street in Bentonville unless otherwise noted.

The schedule includes:

May 8

3 p.m. — Women Shred Village doors open

3 p.m. — Expo Patty V photography at Record Downtown

5:15-5:45 p.m. — Official opening of Women Shred followed by a screening of “See It to Believe It” by Crankworx

6 p.m. — Trail bike show by Perrine Devahive and Kenny Belaey

6:15 p.m. — Pump track sessions with Payton Ridenour

May 9

1 p.m. — Women Shred Village doors open

1 p.m. — Expo Patty V photography at Record Downtown

4:45-5 p.m. — Screening of “Spark To Flame” by Crankworx

5:15 — Trail bike show by Perrine Devahive and Kenny Belaey

5:45 p.m. — Women of Oz Group Ride

May 10

1 p.m. — Women Shred Village doors open

1 p.m. — Expo Patty V photography at Record Downtown

1-5 p.m. — All American Race and May 11 workshop confirmations at the Women Shred booth

5:30-6:45 p.m. — Screenings of “I’m Not There” by Lael Wilcox and “Road 2 Recovery” by C. Buchanan. This event includes a question and answer session.

7-8:15 p.m. — All American Race and Prize Ceremony. (Pre-registration www.womenshred.com is required.)

May 11

9 a.m. — Presentation riders by Dylan

9:30-10:30 a.m. — Food and Skills workshops

9:30-10:30 a.m. — Trails with Hope, Trails with Hope 2 and Trails with AB

12:45 p.m. — Screening of “The Time is Now” by Crankworx

1:30 p.m. — Trail bike show by Perrine Devahive and Kenny Belaey

2-3 p.m. — Trails with Hope and Trails with AB

2-3 p.m. — Food, Skills and WD40 workshops

3-4 p.m. — Trails with Hope and Trails with AB

3-4 p.m. — Food, Skills and WD40 workshops

4-5 p.m. — Trails with Hope and Trails with AB

4-5 p.m. — Food, Skills and WD40 workshops

5 p.m. — Women Shred closes

INFO — womenshred.com

"The Bentonville Film Festival champions inclusion in all forms of media," says Trevor Drinkwater, Bentonville Film Festival co-founder, who explains the event welcomes content in the areas of gender equality, LGBTQ, disabilities and ethnicity.

Based in Bentonville, Lammertyn says the emphasis on women's cycling at the festival felt like a natural pairing for Women Shred, the vision for which was sparked by Belaey's attendance at the 2018 festival. An avid bicyclist himself, he saw the inclusion of films about women's biking in a community that embraces the sport as an overlooked opportunity, she says.

"In the bike industry, it's something that's still open," Lammertyn says of women's cycling. "A lot of brands want to have more women on bikes and want to do more with women, but sometimes they don't know how."

She says many may not associate biking with Northwest Arkansas either, creating an opportunity for both the region and Women Shred.

"The community itself has recognized cycling as an economic driver for the greater Bentonville area," says Aimee Ross, director of Bike Bentonville. "More and more, bikers aren't traveling as far as they used to, or they're looking for new adventures and experiences in which they can bring their whole family."

Ross adds that Bentonville's proximity to biking trails, art, museums, hotels and restaurants makes the city an ideal destination for cycling.

"We really brought the event to Bentonville to celebrate this area of the country, of which biking is a large part of it," Drinkwater says, adding that visitors at events such as the Sundance Film Festival in Utah might ski when attending that event. "We hope, ultimately, when people come to the Bentonville Film Festival, they'll get out on the trails."

Women Shred events and activities are all free and will be held primarily in and around Lawrence Plaza on Northeast A Street, Lammertyn says. Featured events will include Women Shred Village; trail bike shows; pump track demonstrations and sessions; group rides with the Women of Oz; workshops; and film screenings.

The original concept for 2019 included women's bicycling documentaries, but Lammertyn says they were unable to complete them in time for this year. Plans are to roll out new documentaries for the 2020 festival, she says.

"The screenings that we have this year are by other filmmakers that provided them to us, but they're also about strong women on bikes," Lammertyn says.

The current schedule includes screenings of "See It to Believe It," "Spark To Flame" and "The Time is Now" by Crankworx; "I'm Not There" by Lael Wilcox; and "Road 2 Recovery" by C. Buchanan, Lammertyn says. The films will feature international female biking personalities and locations.

Women Shred Village will be the the hub of Women Shred's presence at the event, she says, and includes booths from about 15 sponsors, giveaways, demo bikes, a pump track, workshops, an All American Race and more.

"It's just a fun little competition," Lammertyn says of the All American Race, explaining the event is more of a 30-second sprint. She says while the race is for fun, the All American King or Queen will be crowned at the event.

Lammertyn adds that men and youth are also welcome and encouraged to check out Women Shred, perhaps as a means of helping the females in their lives discover biking.

"We have a lot of stuff going on, like free samples and stuff, and that's fun for everyone," she says.

NAN What's Up on 05/05/2019

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