FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Office for
Sustainability is organizing a Razorback Team for faculty and staff who want to
take part in the local “Bike to Work Week” competition, which runs, or rather,
peddles, from Sunday, May 12, and runs through Saturday, May 18..
“Bike to Work Week” is a national event observed at
various times in many communities, but the Northwest Arkansas version is organized
as a “Commuter Challenge” by the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks. The event is
intended to get commuters to leave their motor vehicles at home and ride their
bicycles to work instead. It’s a community competition for all workplaces in
Washington and Benton Counties, and the Coalition is offering incentives –
prizes for the teams that log the most participation during the week. More
information is available at the Coalition website.
“There are already a number of individual departments and
offices at the University of Arkansas that enjoy participating in the
challenge,” said Carlos Ochoa, director of the Office for Sustainability. “But there are many faculty and staff here who
don’t have a team to associate with – that’s why we’re creating the Razorback
Team to represent the whole U of A. Besides, there are many benefits to riding
a bicycle to work: it increases stamina, decreases parking costs, helps reduce
carbon emissions from fossil fuels and, most importantly, it’s fun!”
Anyone who wants to join the Razorback Team simply needs
to register
by filling out an online form before Sunday. Ochoa will follow up with each
registrant every day and he’ll report the totals to the Coalition, so team
members can be included in the local competition.
“This is our first year to try this, and I hope it will
give us an idea of how many people we have on campus who are interested in
commuting to campus,” said Ochoa.