2nd alumni race brings former riders back for more

Visitors and alumni swarming Bloomington for this year's Little 500 will have a hand in the weekend's events when they will participate in the Little 500 alumni race Saturday.\nThe alumni race is divided into heats by the decade the rider attended IU. The race lasts 10 laps on the cinder track at Bill Armstrong Stadium.\nThis is the second running of the Little 500 alumni race, and the IU Student Foundation hopes to continue the race every five years.\nTwo notable riders in Saturday's alumni race are IU Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer Terry Clapacs and IUSF Director Jonathan Purvis.\nClapacs rode for Delta Upsilon in the early 1960s and said he has not done enough riding lately, but the alumni race is an incentive to get his bike out of the garage and get his legs into better shape.\n"Clearly the race is part of our academic year and is sort of the last big hurrah before the end of the second semester," Clapacs said. "It's great to see our students and fans have a lot of fun. It says a lot about our University that we have alums who care about IU."\nPurvis rode for Dodds House in the 1990s and still rides competitively during the summer for Team Tortuga Cycling. He competed in the 2002 Louisville Marathon and the 2003 Mini Marathon in Indianapolis.\nPurvis said riding in the alumni race is a great opportunity for him because by working for IUSF, he is surrounded by the Little 500 on a daily basis, and this gives him the chance to participate.\n"I think that anyone who has participated in the Little 500, really knows that it's a special thing," Purvis said. "It's a rare thing when you are a student, but to be able to come back as an alumni is real special."\nRoger VanderGenugten, 44, rode for Alpha Tau Omega in the 1980s and has gone to Colorado the last few summers to ride in the mountains. He said when he attended IU, riding in Bloomington made him learn to love climbing since there is no such thing as a flat ride in Bloomington.\nVanderGenugten said he is related to Russell VanderGenugten, who rode for Cutters last year. He discovered this when he stopped at the Bicycle Garage, 507 E. Kirkwood Ave., to purchase his daughter a bike. Russell's brother was working at the store and Roger had his mother look on the family tree and discovered they had a connection in the family's homeland, Holland.\nVanderGenugten said he is worried about his teammate in the alumni race, Paul "Dog" Paslaski, because Paslaski is in great shape because he participates in triathlons.\n"I'm looking to take a close second behind 'Dog,'" VanderGenugten said. "I'm going to suck his wheel and I am going to do my best coming around the fourth turn."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Steve Slivka at smslivka@indiana.edu.