There's a lot of peer pressure involved as well no doubt - why do something "odd" when you are only going to get picked on through social media because of it?

Our cycling club has had to organise a women's only ride to encourage more women to head out. This despite both the club president and secretary being female.

On the male/female split in fell running, it seems that roughly 1 in 7 fell runners are women. This ratio carries through to the Bob Graham both in registrations and successes so it seems like the problem is in the initial uptake rather than viewing the big challenges as something else again.