Whitman College Cycling

            The Whitman College Cycling Team was established in 2002 as a club to bring together cycling enthusiasts on the Whitman campus. From its inception, the club has promoted an inclusive and nurturing environment to develop not only cycling talent, but more importantly, a life long love for the sport of cycling. As a result of this inclusive attitude, and the nature of cycling as a social sport, the team has become a very tight knit community, where teammates turn into life long friends. These values are a main reason the team has grown from just a handful of dedicated cyclists in 2002, to around 55 cyclists, at all levels of the sport.

 

Whitman College Cycling in the Community

Since its formation, the team has supported not only the cycling community on the Whitman Campus, but also in the entire Walla Walla Valley. Every fall, the Gran Fondo is held, and the team shows its support by leading the various rides during the event. This is a wonderful charity event benefiting the St. Mary’s Cancer Center. The team believes it is important to use our numbers and influence, as a national championship squad, to help causes in the Walla Walla region that benefit such worthy organizations.

In the past two seasons, Whitman cyclists have had the opportunity, with the dedicated support of Kay Barga, MaryAnn Duffy and Patty Froke to hold semi-annual bike safety rodeos with local grade 2 and 3 students from Edison and Berney Elementary.  With an emphasis on safe riding skills, students have practiced their way through a full range of stations on their way to the raffle draw for BMX bikes, team hats and bottles, with a team jersey for the champion of the 20metre slow race.  The team is really excited about expanding to Green Park Elementary in the spring of 2010.

Whitman riders, after founding the Bikery project in 2005 (teaches disadvantaged children about bicycle maintenance, now become a sustainable venture) have stayed involved with the community center for youth through  their 2009 junior racing team, coached by Whitman '07 Alumni Rebecca Jensen.  Getting local high school students interested in cycling, RJ was able to field both cyclocross and road team with the generous support of the community and Whitman cycling.  Our team leaders took great satisfaction in working with these enthusiastic junior riders and have continued to ride with these super fast guys now that the grant funding has moved on.

Each February the team puts on a cycling week that offers a host of events as riders get stoked for the season.  Included events are the Junior Cycling Team Bike Fashion show fundraiser, Walla Walla Garbage Clean-Up Day (last year more than 200lbs was collected), daily 'no-drop team rides with free rentals bikes / helmets and NEW for 2010 - Walla Walla Roubaix Fundraiser.

The Whitman Cycling Team is also very excited to host the spaghetti feed at the 2010 Tour of Walla Walla.  With many Whitman riders racing during the weekend’s events, the spaghetti feed will present a great opportunity to further connect with the racing scene in the Northwest.  Now approaching its 14^th year, the quality and exposure of the Tour of Walla Walla has exploded, with top teams from Oregon, Washington and British Columbia making the journey for this spring classic. 

The 2009 Collegiate Cycling Season

National Champions 2005,2006 & 2009!

            The Whitman College Cycling Team had an amazing season in 2009.  We won the Northwest Conference for the second time and reclaimed our National Title.  The team was very fortunate to receive a ton of support for the community and our sponsors.  A big shout goes out to our team chaperones: Justin Bannerman, Zac Strode, Glenn Silver and Dave Tupper. With seven of our eight national riders returning for 2010, we look forward to another strong year at the top while building our program's legacy with due diligence in helping our freshman riders learn the ropes.

 

 

 

 

The 2010 season will start with Collegiate Cyclocross Nationals in Bend, Oregon in December.  With the strongest group of XC's yet, we look forward to having a blast eating mud and kicking butt this fall.

The road season starts in March and will take us back to the usual spots. Here is a quick calendar:

 

Feb 8th : Orbea Bike Order Arrives

Feb 15th : Clothing Order Arrives

Feb 22nd : Cycling Week _ Community Racing Events

March 13th : Spring Break Training Camp (California)

March 20th : Collegiate Race #1

March 22nd : Spring Break Training Camp (Eugene)

March 27th : Collegiate Race #2

April 3rd : Collegiate Race #3

April 10th : Collegiate Race #4 (Hopefully Whitman Race)

April 16th : Tour of Walla Walla

April 24th : Conference Finals

May 1st : Green Park Bike Rodeo

May 7th : Road Nationals

May 8th : Berney Bike Rodeo

May 12th : Classes Finished

May 18th : Exams finished

NCAA Road National Championships

Ranked in the top 5 for the last six seasons with three National Omnium Team titles, our most recent coming last spring, our whole team, from the vets to the freshman are just super jazzed for 2010.  After winning the National Road Championship in two consecutive seasons in 2005 and 2006, the team powered to third place in 2007 with a slew of medal performances.  In 2008 we finished 5th overall scoring three medals at Road nationals, with Kendi Thomas  just missing out on the individual omnium. In 2009, Kendi got her chance and put on an individual Stars and Bars jersey; highlighted with strong performances all round, the guys team won the mens competition for the first time in club history, that coupled with our relentless womens squad, we won Nationals by a 500 to 330 pt. margin. 

Collegiate Nationals attracts thousands of cycling enthusiasts and all the national cycling press.  Our success over these past six years has produced a great amount of exposure, creating an incredible amount pride within our local cycling community.  Our continued success at nationals is something the entire team strives to attain.

 

The Benefits of Sponsorship

Sponsorship of the Whitman College Cycling team is a great opportunity to not only support a successful team filled with charismatic and motivated individuals, but generate great advertisement for your company. Every race and event the team travels to, we bring along our large trailer. This means that the trailer drives all around the Northwest, logging thousands of miles, and many hours sitting in prominent locations throughout the region. With sponsorship comes the opportunity to place your company logo and name on the side of the trailer (size & placement determined by donation) for the tens of thousands of people a year who view the trailer to see; this is a mobile billboard. Sponsorship also brings your company name/logo to the Whitman College Jersey (size & location determined by donation size). These jerseys are worn in all collegiate races, and many non-collegiate races. Further, these jerseys are a year round staple on the roads surrounding Walla Walla, as well as the local coffee shops and restaurants. Further, the jerseys are seen in most pictures that are featured in press clippings of the team, including posters hanging in the places of business of our local and regional sponsors. This is another great way to increase awareness for your company. There are many other negotiable perks to sponsorship. Event appearances, photo opportunities for those company poster and cards, are just a few of the potential commitments the team will make to a sponsor. Again, sponsorship of the Whitman College Cycling Team is a great way to advertise, and at the same time, to be part of a national championship organization.