Romania: Women Rule the Roads

The first-ever women's motorcycle rally in Romania brought together 250 participants. Among them were representatives from Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, India, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania,Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Ukraine, Estonia, Finland, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, and Japan.

This rally was held under the auspices of the Women's International Motorcycle Association (WIMA) - an organization uniting 5,000 female motorcycle enthusiasts. Founded in the 1950s in the USA, WIMA is now represented in 25 countries, including the Balkans - in Bulgaria and Romania. The honor of hosting the 75th anniversary rally was given to Romania not by chance: this country, which only 7 years ago created a branch of the International Women's Motorcycle Association, attracted 120 new members and over 2,000 fans.

The main goal of the motorcycle rally in Romania, according to the vice president of the Women's International Motorcycle Association (WIMA) and president of WIMA-Romania, Michaela Hodivoianu, is to increase the popularity of motorsports among women, as well as to popularize local tourism.

“When we hold an event in a country, we promote its cultural values. This time it's Romania. When we created the association, we made it very popular and we believe that by now we have a name in the community and close ties with all members of society,” Hodivoianu said.

The rally was attended by athletes aged 18 to 88. The bikers raced through 12 cities in Romania, closing the ring route in the mountainous Transylvania.