New teams to compete on race day

Of the 66 men’s and women’s teams participating in this weekend’s Little 500, 64 of them will go home without a title.

But for many, a race victory is far from the goal; in fact, some teams are thrilled to simply be in the race for the first time.

The women’s race will feature a full 33-team field that includes several new teams. Out of the 33 teams on the men’s side, three teams will be competing for the first time.

Little 500 race director Pam Loebig said finding new teams to participate is one of the goals for the race organizers.

“We want as many people to share in that experience and know what it’s like to ride in the Little 500,” Loebig said.

Here are four teams’ stories — a soon-to-be-Greek team, a formerly Greek team, a team with green hair and an academic team.

Hoosier Climber?

For most new teams, there is an initial transition period that might include slow qualification times and bad race results.

But the Hoosier Climber? team made a Qualifications day statement as bold as the green hair sported by all its members.

With a 2:24.73 run, Hoosier Climber? qualified 9th, above traditional powerhouse men’s teams such as Phi Gamma Delta.

And the team — all rookie riders except for one — has some confidence, too.
“We weren’t surprised by that time,” said senior Isaac Simonelli, the only rider with previous race experience. “It sounds a little arrogant, but we thought we could do better than that time.”

Simonelli founded this team after leaving the Collins Bunny Gamma team. Since he works at Hoosier Heights Indoor Climbing Facility, the team quickly found its sponsor and a team name.

As race day approached, Simonelli acknowledged that he began to realize the quality of the team’s qualifying run.

“More and more as the spring series goes along, we just see how truly great some of the riders on the other teams are,” Simonelli said. “As a new team with new riders, I’m really happy to have qualified top ten.”

As for the green hair? That was Simonelli’s idea, too, junior teammate Chris Wood said.
“Two years ago, Collins dyed their hair too, which was all from Isaac’s persuasion,” Wood said. “I guess he wanted something that was a team bonding experience. I guess to prove that we were serious, we were willing to sacrifice our hair, too.”

LAMP

For the members of the women’s LAMP team, all it took was a recruitment e-mail to get them hooked on the race.

“We responded to the e-mail, we went to a meeting, decided we wanted to do it, signed up and started training,” sophomore rookie rider Alexandra Moxley said.

A few months later, the LAMP team qualified 24th for the women’s race.

This is the first year that LAMP — the Liberal Arts and Management Program in the College of Arts of Sciences — has organized a Little 500 team. A men’s LAMP team also attempted to qualify but did not make the men’s race.

While some of the riders were acquainted with each other before forming the team, the team members emphasized that a tight-knit bond has formed among them.
“We became hardcore friends really fast,” Moxley said.

For the team, the experience of participating in Little 500 is a thrill in itself.
“Seeing the race last year, it just made my heart race, and I knew I wanted to do that,” junior Rachel Eldert said.

The LAMP team fits into race director Pam Loebig’s vision of opening the Little 500 race to new teams.

“Since Little 500 is the largest event on campus, we’d love for it to represent IU as a whole,” Loebig said. “There can be times where it seems like a greek event, and we really want it to represent a part of the whole IU tradition.”

Emanon

The past few years have been a dramatic roller coaster ride for men’s team Alpha Tau Omega.

In 2006, star ATO rider Hans Arnesen rode 123 of 200 laps en route to his team lapping the entire field for the victory. A year later, the team failed to qualify for the race.

Now, following two top-10 finishes in the past two races, the house’s team no longer exists and an independent team has taken its place.

After the house was placed on probation in 2009, the ATO team was not allowed to participate in this year’s race. However, riders who deactivated from the house were permitted by race officials to form an independent team.

The team, Emanon — “no name”  spelled backwards — is facing an uphill challenge with several new riders this year.

“We want to do well,” senior Derek Bailey said. “I think it’s a miracle we’re in the race anyway. They told us all last semester that we weren’t racing. We went through three-fourths of the year not knowing if we were going to race or not.”

Team Gluff

Alpha Gamma Delta sorority has no trouble recruiting riders for its team.

Not only were they able to field — and qualify — a second team, riders say there was enough interest that a third team could’ve been created.

The second team, Team Gluff, is taking advantage of a provision in the race rules that allows new pledges to participate one year as an independent team before joining the house’s team. Normally, greek members are required to ride for their house.

For sophomore Ashleigh Peterson, participating on the Team Gluff team is all about the future.

“It’s cool because I wouldn’t be up to par with the girls on the house team,” Peterson said. “This year gives us the experience.”

Technically this is not a new team for 2010. Another AGD-based group (including two current AGD riders, Ellen Knecht and Theresa Kretz) participated on Team Gluff in 2007, finishing 17th.

The team’s goals are simple this year: “definitely try to avoid wrecks” and “gain experience for next year,” sophomore Katie Reed said.

The riders recognize they don’t yet measure up to many teams above them.

“It’s kind of intimidating with all the other good teams — the ‘dynasty’ teams,” Peterson said. “But it’s really cool that we’re in this, too.”

Team Gluff qualified 25th for the race.