Indiana University Bloomington

Little 500 2009

Transcript

  (A lone rider pedals his bicycle around the race track.)    "Little 500 2009"  Laurie Burns-McRobbie, First Lady of Indiana University:  There's obviously a wide range of riders in both the men's and the women's race;  but, the riders who win and compete very successfully, in one degree or another,  are really good riders. And they're very strong, very fit.  They take it very seriously. They've really trained.  They have good team dynamic, and I think that's great to see,  knowing the history of the race, and the time when  women, A: weren't racing bikes at all,  but their race was tricycles in a gym.  So, it's really wonderful to see that the women's race really is  taken as seriously by the riders as the men's race is.  Race announcer:  Grab your Schwinn bikes!  [Music. Cheering.]  (Riders race their bikes around the track as the crowd cheers.)  Richard McKaig, Indiana University Dean of Students:  I'm always struck by the fact that this is, at its core,  a campus intramural event,  just student organizations riding bicycles around the track.  And yet, the history, the tradition, the kind of excitement,  it becomes a major campus event, with thousands of people coming.  And for the kids who practice all year long to ride, to be in the Little 500,  I mean, it's a turning point in their life; it's a major event.  So, I'm sort of always overwhelmed that what, at its core,  is such a simple event, takes on such meaning to everyone.  I've been with the university for 38 years,  and I probably started timing about 34-35 years ago,  and I've been at every race ever since.  But, at the core, it's always been the excitement of students participating  in the big college weekend, participating in the race.  [Cheering.]  (The crowd cheers as the winners of the men's and women's races celebrate.)  McKaig:  I think universities will occasionally think  this is something they'd like to learn about  to see if they can replicate it and  inevitably, they walk away going,  "I don't see how we can get something like that started here."  [Cheering.]  Edited by Hillary Demmon. Video footage by Hillary Demmon and Chris Meyer. Photos by Aaron Bernstein and Heather Brogden.