Cyclocross racers will ‘Bike Against Cancer’ tonight at Alpenrose

People who participate in the weekly Blind Date at the Dairy cyclocross race series tonight will have a little extra motivation to pedal through the pain: They’ll be battling cancer with each spin of the legs.

Series organizers have teamed up with OHSU’s Knight Cancer Institute for Bike Against Cancer, a one-lap fundraiser race. The race will start at 5:45 pm at Alpenrose Dairy in southwest Portland.

Blind Date organizer Joe Field says he’d doing the event to raise awareness and money for cancer research.

In a fun and exciting twist, racers will raise money based on how many people they finish ahead of at the end of a 1.2 mile lap. By signing a pledge sheet, sponsors will pay a pre-determined amount for each person their racer beats (for example if you finish 15th and have a $1 pledge, that sponsor will owe OHSU $15). The lap will be handicapped with beginners and first-timers getting a big head start and expert riders starting in the back. Because the donation amount is based on the number of people you finish ahead of, the bigger the field the better! That also means there’s a reverse-incentive to finish last in order to help others raise money.

Here’s how Field describes it:

“The Bike Against Cancer is not just a race against each other, but it’s also a race against cancer. This is the one race in OBRA where the more racers that beat you, the more good you do, by helping the racers ahead of you raise more money from their pledge sponsors! I will be racing for last place!”

Entry to the race is just $5 and it’s open to OBRA members 12 and over. If you’re not an OBRA member you can get a one-day license for just $5 and juniors aged 12-18 race free. Registration is available on-site.

— Learn more at CrossSeries.com.