During the time of year when many charitable organizations are collecting food item donations, the AMS Bike Co-Op will be hosting UBC’s first ever Cranksgiving activity.
According to Kristina Knappett, AMS Bike Co-Op Communications and Outreach Coordinator, Cranksgiving is a bike race event that takes place in various cities across North America. The purpose is to collect food items for local food banks.
With the Bike Kitchen as the starting point, contestants will race on bicycles through the UBC campus and nearby areas to collect food items. The first person to return to the finish line with all the items will be the winner.
“The bike race is kind of like a scavenger hunt. There’s a bunch of checkpoints and some of those checkpoints are grocery stores,” said Knappett.
Food items that participants collect during the bike race will go to the AMS Food Bank. The money or food item donations that participants make as part of their entrance fee will also be contributed to the bank.
Knappett said that the Cranksgiving event consists of two simultaneous competitions: the "alley cat" and the "alley kitty." The former is more competitive with six checkpoints, including one off campus. The latter only has five checkpoints and a shorter biking distance. Having two separate races for the event encourages less avid cyclists to participate as well.
“You don’t have to be a competitive racer to do this … This less competitive 'alley kitty' is for people who have never raced before or maybe don’t even ride a bike,” said Knappett.
As this is the first time that Cranksgiving is running at UBC, Knappett said that she hopes for the activity to be successful so that it can continue into subsequent years.
“Given that this is our first year, we’re hoping it will become as successful as possible ... We’re hoping to make this an annual event,” said Knappett.
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