FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact

Jeff Perry

Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation

4119 Campbell Street

Kansas City, MO 64110

816-807-7276  jeff.perry@gmail.com

Kansas City Bicyclists Hit the Streets to stock Food Bank Shelves in the Fifth Cranksgiving

Who:Bicyclists from around Kansas City

Where: Anita Gorman Discovery Center,4750 Troost Ave, Kansas City, MO

When: November 21, 2010 12:30 pm

What:Bicycle Alleycat Race to support St. Peter’s Food Pantry

Cranksgiving Alleycat Race

November 21, 2010 12:30 pm

On Kansas City, Missouri  November 21, 2010 - For the fifth year in a row, bicyclists in Kansas City will ride an Alleycat race through the city, starting at the Anita Gorman Discovery Center at 48th and Troost stopping at grocery stores to pick up one or two items and rolling on to another, visiting up to 10 stores before finishing at St. Peter's Legacy Center at 6415 Holmes Road. Groceries will be donated to St. Peter’s Food Bank.

Cranksgiving, first organized in New York City in 1999 ,by Antonio Rodrigues and continues to be run there. After Rodrigues moved to York, PA, the event spread to there as well as to Des Moines,IA, St. Louis and other cities throughout the country.

The first Cranksgiving in Kansas City was started by local photographer and cyclist Michael Forrester, with Grant Redwine and Jason Wingate. The race brought together riders from the various communities within Kansas City area cycling. The following year, the Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation and 816 Bicycle Collective began organizing Cranksgiving.

In 2009, riders filled the stage at the Brick with food donations. “In the first event,” says director Jeff Perry, “we gathered foods for a Thanksgiving dinner. It seems that hunger has become a larger problem, so now I ask the riders to gather staples like peanut butter, soup and cereal. Another item that the food banks have asked for in the past is soap and other personal care products, because people can’t use their food stamps for those.”

Alleycat races started as a competition between bicycle messengers and involve a number of check points, much like a typical work day in a messengers life. At Cranksgiving, riders are given a manifest that has a list of grocery stores and items to purchase. Riders will start riding at 1PM and finish at St. Peter’s at 3PM. Methods of carrying groceries vary from messenger bags and backpacks to baskets, panniers and even cargo trailers.

Riders pay no entry fee and register the day of the event, receiving a spoke card and manifest.

For additional information

Contact Jeff Perry, cell 816-807-7276 or jeff.perry@gmail.com

###