Students face choice as Little 5 matches with IU By NICKY CHOKRAN news@thedepauw.com
DePauw will compete against Indiana University for student attendance this week, as both schools host their traditional bike races Saturday. According to the Indiana University Student Foundation, IU’s Little 500 is the nation’s largest bike race. The race attracts over 25,000 spectators annually. “At IU [Little 500 week], every single night something is going on and everybody gets into it,” DePauw senior Erin Cockrum, who attended Indiana University for her sophomore and junior years, said. “It’s a huge campus of everyone collaborating
for an entire week to party.” There are many competing factors pulling some DePauw students to IU during Little 5 week. “[Little 500] is a lot bigger at IU and there are different opportunities during the week,” senior Maggie Cohen said. “The concerts they have are really fun, and they have more school spirit.” Cohen has been to IU’s Little 500 twice since freshman year. She plans to return to Bloomington on Thursday night to celebrate IU’s Little 500 at the Krewella concert, and return to DePauw for class Friday. An advantage of IU’s larger student body is the presence of a larger social scene. Senior Sam Oliveri said he and some friends are going to Bloomington on Thursday. From there
they will take a bus with IU students to Bounce Music Festival. “Nothing like this comes to Greencastle,” Oliveri said. “There’s no opportunity to go to a 10,000 person plus party here on Thursday of Little 5 week.” Besides concerts, bars are also involved in IU’s Little 500 celebrations. “I think what makes IU’s Little 5 better is that IU has a lot better of a bar scene than we do,” Cockrum said. During the week leading up to the races, bars all over Bloomington have various specials to celebrate Little 500. “Also, IU’s Little 5 race is taken a lot more seriously,” Cockrum said. “The riders train all year round, not just a couple months.”
Yet despite IU’s big school advantages, most all students are staying at DePauw for the actual race day on Saturday. Cohen said she couldn’t imagine missing DePauw’s Little 5 race because she doesn’t want to miss the opportunity to hang out with friends and watch classmates race. “[Saturday’s races] are a DePauw tradition,” Oliveri said. “I don’t want to miss it.” Cockrum expressed similar reasoning. “Even though [IU’s] Little 5 might be crazier, I don’t want to miss this experience with my closest friends,” Cockrum said. “DePauw is my alma mater and my home.”
From then to now, the history of Little 5 DPU teams up with law enforcement for weekend By NETTIE FINN
features@thedepauw.com
Since 1956, students on campus have been pumping up bike tires and donning helmets to race each other to the finish line during one of DePauw’s most celebrated weekends and longest running traditions. Now closing in on 57 years, Little 5 has remained, in essence, the same. Through spiking and waning interest, changes to the race itself and even lifeending injuries to its riders, the race has remained. Little 5 has long been a tradition of boasing athleticism and entertainment, though in its advent race riders did not appear to have fully comprehended how demanding the event could be. “Out-of-shape fraternity men found too late that being in prime physical condition could mean a great deal in the grueling thirty-five contest,” the ’57 “Mirage” wrote. The events prior to the 1979 race were many and varied, including burrito-eating, pie-eating or pyramid building contests. According to the Mirage, there was even a “Cyclerama Sing.” Then, in 1993, freshman cyclist Eric Brewe combined the Little 5 with a boulder run when he shocked spectators by competing naked. It is also true that Little 5 has had its share of tragedy. In 1976, Pete Weaver was killed by an automobile while training for the race. The April 30, 1976 issue
of The DePauw included Weaver’s obituary and noted that he had been training for that year’s race since September 1975. The 2000s were a time of big changes to Little 5. Kent Menzel, Little 5 advisor and communications professor, has been at DePauw since 1993 and has been heavily involved in the race since the beginning of his time here. When Menzel arrived in 1993 he said, “the race had settled into a relay format.” However, in 2001, the Little 5 steering committee made a decision to change the overall structure of the race. The event had been losing popularity and it had become a struggle to find enough competitors, not to mention spectators. Within the old format, the criterium race was done as a relay over a stretch of 160 laps. “The spectators really didn’t understand what they were seeing, and the race was unintelligible sometimes even to the racers,” Menzel said. The changes, discussed in 2001 and put into effect in 2004, left the old format far behind and transformed Little 5 from a weekend to a week. Instead of a relay, racers would all take to the track at once and the addition of the time trials and street sprints was made. “Ever since we made that change it’s grown in popularity,” Menzel said. Also in 2004, the Little 5 racing loop was moved from the track onto campus,
where, after a brief stint back at the track due to construction on the GCPA, it has stayed ever since. “That’s the original loop as well, so it’s kind of back to its roots from where the race was held in ’56,” Menzel said. Another big change to the race, involved its name—and a possible lawsuit. “Indiana University got wind of what was going on and threatened to sue us if we didn’t change the name of our race,” Menzel recalled. DePauw’s cycling race, which until that point had been called “Little 500” adopted a new name in 1997 in response to IU’s claims: “Little 5”. “Up here nobody really fussed about it. We were happy to keep our race and we had been calling it Little 5 anyway,” Menzel said. No matter the name, Little 5 has managed to remain a tradition at DePauw for nearly 60 years. However, Menzel still feels there are some changes for the better that could be made. “I think Little 5 can be made more of an overall festival through adding more events. I would love to see a big name concert go along with Little 5,” he said. While Little 5 might not yet be offering the carnival-like atmosphere that Menzel feels it should aspire to, that won’t stop students, faculty and alumni from piling onto the sidelines to watch as cyclists pedal their hearts out this Saturday.
By NICKY CHOKRAN news@thedepauw.com
Police officers from Greencastle Police Department and the Putnam County Sherriff’s office will join forces this weekend with DePauw Public Safety to help regulate events on campus during Little 5. According to Angie Nally, Director of Public Safety, the university will contract off duty police officers from these departments to help on race day Saturday. “[We] are looking for people who are really drawing attention to themselves,” Nally said. “If people are acting within reason then we’re not going to know they’re drinking anyway.” All officers will be dressed in their own uniforms, and incidents between students and officers from Public Safety, the GPD, and the Sherriff’s office will be referred to community standards. Because Little 5 is posted on the university’s public calendar, Nally said that there is a chance that Excise officers will be present on campus over the weekend. “I haven’t heard anything from them,” said Nally. “[But] I would never say they wouldn’t be there. They know it’s our Little 5.”
Saturday’s races will take place on 4/20, an unofficial holiday celebrating marijuana. “We are aware of the folklore around that number,” Nally said about 4/20. Nally said she cautions students not to participate in 4/20 celebrations, as possession and consumption of illegal substances is an arrestable offence. Nonetheless, Nally communicated confidence for the weekend. “We are prepared for a large crowd, [and] interacting with people who have chosen to become really intoxicated,” said Angie Nally, Director of Public Safety. “As well as provide a safe course for the Little 5 riders.” During the race, crowd control barricades will be set up at points around the course where increased pedestrian traffic is expected. Officers will also be placed at busy crosswalks to help facilitate safe crossings. However, there will be areas of the course that are less regulated and will require more caution by pedestrians. “It is very important that students are aware of the racers when they choose to cross the street,” said Nally. “Students will have to be individually responsible.”