Women's Challenge

The Women's Challenge bicycle race (originally known as the Ore-Ida Women's Challenge as the lead sponsor was the Ore-Ida brand of frozen potato products) was held annually in the western United States in southern Idaho, beginning in 1984 until its demise in 2002.

From 1995, when it first obtained sanctioning from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI),[2] the international governing body for cycling, it developed into one of the strongest races in the world, attracting numerous World and Olympic Champions.

[8][9] The fifth stage through Lewiston ended with the climb up the Spiral Highway, a twisty rise of two thousand vertical feet (610 m).

[6][10] The following year (1991) marked the debut on the international scene of a team representing Lithuania,[11] which had just recently declared its independence and was still awaiting recognition as a country.

[13] By the late 1990s, the race was able to attract sufficient sponsorship money to offer the richest prize fund ever in women's cycling and, for a while, was the richest prize fund race in North America, men's or women's.