The women were competing, finally, at Red Bull Rampage, considered the biggest and gnarliest mountain-bike competition in the world. At the bottom, Katie Holden was overcome by the moment.

For years, Holden, a 39-year-old mountain-bike athlete and advocate, had led the push for this gender barrier to fall. Now it had, in the Utah desert near Zion National Park.

“Women are in Rampage now,” she said, soaking in those words and smiling through tears. “This is all we wanted.”

Rampage, a chart-your-own course “freeride” event, began in 2001. But it was only for men, and it stayed that way even as it grew into the sport’s most feared, most anticipated spectacle. Last Thursday, it became the latest athletic setting where women finally had equal access and pay.

To know why this matters, simply follow the dusty trails of blood, sweat and tears that tumbled down the craggy, crumbling sandstone slopes. Rampage can be both exhilarating and horrifying — including for viewers — as riders fly down steep drops and over big jumps while carving turns at the edges of cliffs.

The first down was Robin Goomes, a 28-year-old from New Zealand. The day before, she had wondered aloud whether the reluctance to include women at Rampage was rooted in the audaciousness of it all — “It’s actually pretty psycho when you look at it,” she said — and in a testosterone-fueled notion that the presence of women would diminish the brashness and make Rampage “look less gnarly.”