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Twenty nine year old Iris Kramer, who was the 2007 FIM Women's Trial World Champion, has made her mark on this year's female series despite having retired from the top level of the sport at the end of last season. Kramer was invited by the FIM Trial Commission to work alongside them as an advisor to the championship, after the German ex FIM Women's Trial World Champion had enjoyed a decade of being one of the main title contenders.
Highly respected by all the other female riders on the tour and even by her long-standing arch rival and current FIM Women's Trial World Champion Laia Sanz - Repsol Montesa, Kramer was an obvious addition to the FIM team and has much to offer the series. Iris was keen to explain in her own words about her new and challenging, but competitive role.
"My overall objective is to strengthen the championship and to make it appealing to more and more riders. As I am an ex rider I can assist the girls on many different levels. I really want to support them, I want to help make them more professional and to be aware that it is important to promote themselves and the series in the right way. Also perhaps the most important job is to help the organisers to create the right type and severity of sections."
Kramer was forced to retire from top-level competition due to an ongoing problem with her elbow, an injury that was originally sustained several years ago, as she describes here. "The problem started back in 2004 when I broke my elbow in five places. This was a very complicated fracture, so I was lucky to have ridden again at all after such a serious injury. Since then I have undergone six operations in an attempt to repair the joint fully. The problem is my body is trying to repair itself and is creating bone, which is causing a number of problems."
With no chance of securing a second FIM Women's Trial World Championship, Iris has now set herself a new target that continues her motivation for a sport that she talks about with so much passion. "My goal is to get more female competitors to take part in the series by making it a more interesting proposition for all levels of riders. We need to communicate to the national federations, that this is a championship for their female riders, and one where the sections have been designed for the majority of riders and not just the top few."
