Katherine Prumm

Published: 08th July 2007

Author: Words and photos by Alex Hodgkinson

Last year's Women's World Cup winner, Molson Kawasaki's Kathi Prumm isn't content simply to be the fastest female out there - she wants to put brains before brawn and take on the men as well...

Time was when females were at the motocross track just to brighten up the life of a bunch of machomen but the Women's World Cup has changed all that and '06 champ Kathi Prumm is not content just to be best of the girls!

"Of course I know I can't expect ever to beat the best guys. Girls are actually stronger at 12 but men become physically stronger through the teens. One of my team-mates back home is the same age as me and we were always neck and neck but the last few months he's been getting really strong and edging a bit away from me. Maybe women just have to try to ride with their heads a bit more and look for the advantage on the track rather than in strength.

"But I can still progress further and it is one of my goals to get a single digit ranking in the MX2 back home in NZ," insists the 19-year-old globetrotter who was born in South Africa but has called Auckland her home for the last decade. A realistic goal? The enormity of the task is not lost on Kathi.

"It's a tough class. We have guys going over to Australia and doing well there but I rode the four-stroke Nationals in the MX2 class the week before I flew over here and I finished 14th among the men so it must be possible."

So how have the last 12 months been as champion? "A rather injured year," she smiles. "After I won the title in Sweden I flew home for 10 days and then from there on to Colorado to race the third round of the American women's championship that I was leading. I went 1-2 there for the overall and then the next weekend I went to Washougal.

"Practice felt really good but the first race I came off the gate, collided with another rider and went down on my left knee. It went into a forced flexion and another rider ran it over and snapped my ACL in two, cracked my fibula and the cartilage was damaged too."

But it was another month before she knew! "I got up and finished the weekend third so I still had the overall lead in the series. I went home to recover and the doctors told me the knee was perfect, nothing wrong with it. But after a month I was still having problems so I went for an MRI scan and that's when I found out the extent of the damage. I was booked to see a surgeon but I had managed for a month so they said why not keep on riding so, as you do, I carried on riding in the NZ championship at home.

"I had won the first round of the women's championship but I also race MX2. There was only MX2 at the second round. Saturday was really dry but Sunday the heavens opened. I just came down a straight hanging off the back of the bike and without warning the knee dislocated, just like that. The ACL was just not there to support it. Ten days after that I had surgery.

"Already after five weeks I was running again which was really early and in the middle of January I jumped back on the bike, rode for two weeks and went to the season-opener, had a big crash in practice on a heavily watered up-ramp and compressed T9 in my back so I was out for another five weeks. Not the comeback I was looking for but now I've been riding since March with no worries so I'll just try to keep it on two wheels!"

Enough of the downside - how was the reception when Kathi arrived back home as champion? "When I landed at the airport in Auckland and the press and TV news were there waiting for me to come out. All of my team-mates at Kawasaki, Team Green management, the owner of Kawasaki NZ, a bunch of my sponsors, friends that I've grown up with, they were all there too - it was just an amazing feeling and it carried on for the 10 days until I went to the US.

"A lot of people know me in NZ now and, with Josh and Ben doing so well, the whole sport is becoming a lot more popular and getting more publicised in the news nationally. It's actually cool to ride motocross back home now!"

But what about the women's sport worldwide? "It's definitely getting bigger. Back home in NZ there's tremendous growth. We get about 30 on the start line now and in Australia they had a full gate of 40 for the first time this year. Already back home there are a few kids of 11-12 who are doing so awesome against the boys and when they're 18 or 19 they'll definitely be ready for a shot at the world title. Everyone is getting really involved in the women's racing, it's not just a guy's sport anymore and the level of competition is rising.

"It would be just awesome to have a round in SA. It would be a great chance get to see my family back there. There's only me, my mom and dad and my brother and one of my mom's sisters in NZ - all the rest of the family on both sides is in SA, around Cape Town and Jo'burg."

Kathi has a definite schedule ahead of her this year - "I won't go to the US, I have enough races with Australia, NZ and the world cup" - but, no matter how many girls races there are, she will not give up her mixed races. "I've grown up racing the boys and I just love getting out there racing with them. They push you and make you learn new stuff and I wouldn't want to be completely separated."

When Lierop was named as the venue for the world cup finale in September there were many a raised eyebrow at the physical torture facing the girls but it doesn't worry Kathi. "Actually, I'm really excited about the finale being in Lierop this year. We have no sand tracks at all in NZ, both BT and Josh had to learn how to ride it when they got here. Everyone seems to be putting a negative spin on it but to me I can't wait. Bring on the rough track, the rougher the better.

"I do a fair bit of physical training but I think when the track gets rough it's more a matter of going out there and concentrating. You can't just go full nanas, you've got to ride smart and those who are prepared both physically and mentally are going to do well there. I hope I am one of them. I'm looking forward to going out there on a challenging circuit.

"I've been in Belgium for a fortnight, getting some time with the team, sorting out the bike and getting my confidence up and I have been to Lommel for the first time which was good. Josh was in Italy but I've been riding with Gareth and Scotty so that was good."

And, even before she ran out of time to pull back deficits caused by falls in the opening round of the world cup at Teutschenthal, Kathi was insistent that the women's races are too short. "I would like to see them go to two times 30 minutes - 20 minutes is not really that long. We have the same debate back home - in NZ they run 20 but in Australia they run 30. It showed at the opening round there that the girls who do the hard work behind the scenes and the endurance training come into their own in the last 10 minutes. You don't have to become a Russian athlete, it's a matter of physical fitness and endurance."

Kathi believes an expansion of the FIM series could bring benefits to all. "The ideal would be if Youthstream made it into a real world championship with six or seven rounds. That would be unreal, that would be awesome, a genuine world championship for other young girls to aspire to. And I think a lot of the teams would support it then, a real world championship with enough races.

"I'm lucky to have Kawasaki and Molson supporting me but I'm not making any money out of it so it's not a job, it's still a hobby. But the amount of time it takes up, it is a full-time job. I'd love to be able to make a living out of motocross, it's what I enjoy doing most and with the world series growing like it is I think it may be possible in a few years.

"I started a full-time course at uni in computer graphic design in February but I'm taking a break from that while the world cup's on. I was living on campus and doing 50 hours a week in the classroom so it was a full-time job and I just never got to ride during the week.

"I had to reach a decision whether I want to do uni or motocross and for this year I want to defend my title but I'm going to have to see if I can combine studies with maintaining my riding at a reasonable level. Maybe I can't ride the series next year but if they make it a world championship then I will definitely miss my studies. For sure I want to be the first world champion too."

Kathi on..

Lisa Church

"Lisa does a really good job, she has a really professional team and it's nice to be a part of it. The Molson team is much more organised than anything we have in NZ or America and it probably does help to have two females on the team to keep the numbers up and stop the boys bossing us around."

Kawasaki

"At Kawasaki there's a really good relationship with all of their counterparts worldwide. I've been in the Molson team for three years now and they feel like family and wherever I go Kawasaki NZ arrange assistance for me. I pit out of the factory team in Australia and I was in the Team Green programme in America and they sorted me out with bikes, mechanics, whatever I needed. And I just love the bikes."

Yanks

"When I got to the US last year, straight off my win at Teutschenthal, it was my first time in the States. The press had pumped me up but nobody knew what to expect from me, then I went 1-1 and they realised I was for real. But a lot of them didn't like having a foreigner stepping on their turf and I had a few run-ins on the track."