Cranksgiving 9, November 17 2007

by Ken Stanek

2007 drew 85 competitors to New York City's longest consecutively running charity race. For the past few years, the number of racers has been steadily increasing (2006, 2005, 2004 - except for 2004, when it was pissing down rain and miserable). This year's number started to rival the attendance of some of the bigger, more competitive races.

It was my first year organizing the race, so I kept it simple. Hit four supermarket chains from the four rows of the mainifest (right). Still, nearly 25 people messed up or didn't finish at all. Not like it really matters. We still donated over 350 food items to St. Mary's Church at 440 Grand St. The staff there was speechless when they were told that nearly a hundred people were waiting outside to donate food. And this was on top of the donation they received from the Cranksgiving preparty the night before.

Every year, there are a few people that stand out in this race. Most notably is the person who gets awarded "Most Generous". This year, that person, Jamie, didn't come in until 62 people had already finished. I was beginning to get nervous that nobody was going to do that. But the first thing I saw when she rolled up were two bags of onions, which I knew were not on the manifest. Then I noticed that she had a rack full of bags of food. All in all, she bought 3 cans of cranberry sauce, 3 boxes of stove top stuffing, 4 boxes of rice, 2 bags of onions, 3 apple pies, and 3 ears of corn. After she came in, a few other people arrived with whole turkeys, too. So the spirit of the race was clearly in full effect.

Thanks again to everyone who came out to race and to make this the best Cranksgiving yet. Speaking of best Cranksgiving, Tone tells me that he had 28 people race in York, PA, and that a good number of them were not just roadies or mountain bikers - but rode TRACK BIKES!!! Also, St. Louis got in on the action as well.