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When the clock strikes midnight on 1 January 2026 in Orange, New South Wales, a group of remarkable Australian women will make history once again. They will be some of the first in the world to exchange the“ virtual golden baton” of the Women Riders World Relay( WRWR), kicking off a year-long global celebration of connection, challenge, and empowerment for women motorcyclists.
“ We had the most participants worldwide in 2019,” says the Australian WRWR ambassador, Christi Hartwig with pride.“ Australia is currently number one on the WRWR world leaderboard, and I’ m keen to keep it that way. The U. S. is close behind us, but we’ re determined to hold onto our lead.”
The Women Riders World Relay( WRWR) launched in February 2019 as an ambitious, global all-female motorcycle relay. Spearheaded by founder Hayley Bell in the UK, the event connected more than 20,000 women across 102 countries, passing a hand-crafted baton from rider to rider in a symbolic gesture of unity.
The original relay began at John O’ Groats, Scotland, and wound through Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas, and beyond, over the course of a year. In Australia, the baton arrived in mid-2019, with dozens of women riding across the Nullarbor, through Victoria, and New South Wales, culminating in a series of exchanges across the country.
The 2019 iteration had multiple layers of intent: to highlight the growing presence of women riders, to strengthen connections among female motorcyclists, and to prompt industry attention on gear, representation, and inclusion. Manufacturers took notice— for example, Indian Motorcycle publicly supported the US leg of WRWR, emphasizing alignment with its own goals for gender inclusion.
It was ambitious, visible, and, in many ways, transformative. Riders dubbed“ Guardians” carried the baton in designated segments, and the relay was tracked in
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