Brown, Jones, WRC, St. Arnold's win big

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by George Hatoun

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Will Rice College, Brown College, Jones College and even St. Arnold's Brewery were the big winners in this year's Beer-Bike race held on March 30.

For the first time in recent memory, the beer was free at the annual cycling event -- all 17 kegs of it. Add sultry heat, three competitive races and approximately half the student body and you have all the trappings for a great day.

The alumni race, traditionally the least intense of the three events, began shortly after the traditional procession from the colleges to the bicycle track. The race was won by WRC, followed by Hanszen College, while an official three-way tie for third place between Jones, Brown and Lovett College resulted when the judges failed to pay close attention to the finishing order.

The women's race was started by Ellen Camacho, wife of Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho. While the lead changed several times, in the end Brown College cycled away with first place, a full 16 seconds ahead of WRC. Sid Richardson College rolled in third.

The race was uneventful with the exception of a painful spill by Teran Smith, a Jones college junior.

In the afternoon's centerpiece, the men's race, Lovett jumped out of the pits in first, but was soon overtaken by Jones. However, the lead changed several times, allowing both the Graduate Student Association and Brown to have brief moments in the spotlight before Jones managed to establish a commanding lead, which it kept virtually unchallenged for the remaining half of the race.

Jones finished first, significantly ahead of WRC and third-place GSA. Brown was disqualified for riding one rider four laps and another two instead of the required three circuits each around the one-third of a mile track.

SRC, a perennial "disqualifier" in the men's race, was eliminated by officials for having two riders -- including unclad SRC senior Joey Olivier -- on the track simultaneously, and for Olivier's failure to wear his team colors.

In other Beer-Bike related happenings, the Rice Program Council, which organ-ized the afternoon's festivities, awarded the first annual Geek Week Spirit Award to the Graduate Student Association.

"We gave it to them because they're the biggest geeks we know," Beer-Bike Coordinator Christy Hard said.

This item appeared in the Features section of the April 12, 1996 issue.

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