The Ball State Cycling team won back its overall winner title for the 24-mile Cardinal Relay race at the McKinley Mile on Saturday, after losing last year.
The event, hosted by Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, nearly doubled its profit from last year, raising more than $3,600 for the Youth Opportunity Center.
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Evan Heintz, event chairman for Lambda Chi, said the Youth Opportunity center helps at-risk youth who are court ordered juveniles through education. The money raised will go toward programs and activities.
“In previous years we went with the Cardinal Greenway, but this year we wanted to go with ... some place where we would see a little more immediate impact, and someplace that kind of reflected the values that our organization represents,” Heintz said.
Student affairs administration majors Eric Pegues, Amber Silva, Kevin Caputo and Cedric Wilson made up “The Grads,” and won the one-mile Benny Dash overall against 11 other teams.
Eleven teams were registered for the Cardinal Relay, including a team of alumni, “A Cycling Team,” and a team from Kirk’s Bike Shop, who came in about a minute after Ball State’s Cycling team.
Garrett Weiler, a senior graphic arts major, said he has been on the cycling team since his freshman year and was happy to win the overall title back after losing last year.
“I have done this now four years and it’s gotten better and better every year,” Weiler said. “All the community teams, we ride and race with them, so it’s a lot faster and harder. We know what it’s like to actually race, so I guess it’s expected that we should do well.”
Weiler said he joined the team because he has always loved cycling.
“It’s nice to get out in the middle of nowhere, be there on your own,” Weiler said. “It’s fun stress relief. I just like to ride my bike really fast.”
Ryan Page, a sophomore nursing major, bought his first “real” road bike in December and stared practicing with the cycling team two or three times a week. The McKinley Mile was his third race.
“I got into working out after my freshman year and I dropped some weight but I really wasn’t happy with my aerobic ability so I started ... cycling.” Page said. “It’s great for your body.”
Chris Thompson, a history professor, rode with the Kirk’s Bike Shop team and said the Ball State Cycling team was good competition.
“It was fun, it went well, everyone cycled as hard as they could and we got beat by better teams,” Thompson said.
Thompson said weather conditions have made it difficult to train outside, so most of their practices have been indoors.
Heintz said he was happy with the turnout, and will only make minor changes for next year.
“We had a lot of people coming from the community, we had a lot of students and we had a lot of teams too,” Heintz said.
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