The sun was shining, the music was playing, the cowbells were ringing and the families were up bright and early to participate in President Ronald Crutcher’s 5k bike ride around campus.
The ride, led by Crutcher at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, was open to students, faculty, staff and community members, said Cynthia Price, director of media and public relations. The event was organized to get the community excited about the coming UCI Road World Championships and kickoff spirit week on campus, she said.
After Crutcher thanked the participants for their support, the ride commenced at the Tyler Haynes Commons, the same location where the Men's Elite Road Race will start Sept. 27. Crutcher led the riders through two laps past the library, through Lakeview Lane, and up the hill on Richmond Way, passing the Carole Weinstein International Center. The ride then descended past the Robins School of Business before returning to the Commons.
Of the more than 150 people who registered for the event, the ride was composed of an estimated 100 participants, many of whom were children, Price said.
The successful event could become a Richmond tradition, Crutcher said. He said Richmond may do this again for homecoming next year.
“I wanted to go biking with the president,” Roger Skalbeck, associate dean and associate professor of law, said next to his son after the ride. “I thought it was great. It was fun to ride in the race and see the course.”
“My original fear was having enough stamina to make it through,” said Crutcher, who has been an active cyclist for more than thirty years.
Stamina did not turn out to be an issue for Crutcher, who never stopped throughout ride and said that he would have liked to go for a few extra laps.
The 5k was the first bike-themed event planned for spirit week. Other events include a bike safety and repair lesson in the forum, a bike themed lunch entitiled Tour de Dining in the Heilman Dining Center and numerous cycling classes offered by the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness.
After the race, a participant suffered from an unknown medical emergency, Lt. Eric Beatty said. Although EMTs and an ambulance arrived at the scene, the man appeared to be stable, rose to his feet and never entered the ambulance.
Contact reporter Hunter Ross at hunter.ross@richmond.edu.
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