The Women's Little 500 is a bicycle race held annually at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University Bloomington. The race is modelled after the men's Little 500. The race has been run the Friday before the men's race, since its conception in 1987. It consists of half the distance of the men's race: 100 laps (25.49 miles) around the quarter-mile cinder track (410-meters) at the Bill Armstrong Stadium. Racers usually compete in teams of four, but teams can be as few as two, as long as that was the number of team members with which they qualified for the race. These teams usually have a common bond such as living in the same residence hall or being members of the same sorority, or they simply are an independent group with common interests. Each team is only given two bikes on which to ride and therefore, must compete in a relay-style that is rare in other races.
The Purpose
Money raised by the event goes towards a scholarship fund for working IU students, and the race is a major social event on campus during the spring. The Women's race is just one of the several expansions added to the Men's Little 500 in order to create a week of celebration. Other events are the annual Little 50, a 50 lap running relay race and Alumni Races, which are held every 5 years. Other student celebrations during the weekend of the race have helped earn it the title of "The World's Greatest College Weekend," and it is known to be the busiest weekend of the year for the local police force. No longer seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong called the Little 500, which has raised more than $1 million in scholarship money, "the coolest event I ever attended."
History
The inaugural Women's Little 500 was held in 1988, in response to 4 members of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority narrowly failing to qualify for the 1987 men's event on their 3rd and final attempt. In the fall of 1987 two of the Theta riders considered either a second attempt to enter the men's race in 1988 or starting a women's Little 500, and they chose the latter. These women Leeann (Guzek) Terhune and Martha (Hinkamp) Gillum found a receptive Indiana University Student Foundation (the organization that conducts the race), who along with Phyllis Klotman, dean of Indiana University Office of Women's Affairs, agreed to support their effort.
While the support was crucial, the task of gathering 33 teams fell to Leeann and Martha, who spent any spare time meeting with potential women riders. In the end they were going to have 31 teams at the first Women's Little 500 Qualifications, an extraordinary accomplishment. The winner of the first Women's Little 500 was Willkie Sprint, a team of four freshmen including Kirsten Swanson, Louise Elder, Amy (Tucker) Dixon, and Kerry Hellmuth. Hailing from Willkie quadrangle dormitory, they were coached by fellow student Kevin Wentz who was assisted on race day by a fifth teammate Kristin McArdle. Their win and the efforts of Hinkamp, Guzek, and Klotman were chronicled in an article in The New York Times published the day after the first women's race was successfully run and garnered a crowd of 15,000. In 2024, Indiana University Press published “Willkie Sprint: A Story of Friendship, Love, and Winning the First Women's Little 500 Race,” in which Kerry Hellmuth tells the entertaining true story of that first race.
Eligibility
1. All students desiring to participate as a rider in the Little 500 must be a full-time undergraduate student enrolled at the Bloomington campus of Indiana University during the fall and spring semesters of the year of participation.
2. Have a cumulative GPA of 2.00 or better
3. Students may only compete up to four times in a five-year period.
4. Students must be an amateur.
5. No substance abuse of any type is tolerated. If caught, you will not only have to deal with the consequences imposed by the university, but your team will also forfeit their eligibility in the race.
6. For a team to be eligible, at least one member must attend all race information meetings and turn in the final four cards with the names of the team's riders for that year. Also, all riders wishing to compete must complete their "rookie requirements." (These requirements will be discussed later.)
Rules
When doing the race, there are of course a few rules. 1. All riders must use the official Little 500 bike that is provided to them for that year. There can be no toe clips or grips, kick stands, water bottles, air pumps, untaped or unplugged handlebars, or any other add-on accessories. 2. For the safety of all riders, hard helmets must be worn and buckled at all times, as well as cycling gloves. 3. Each team is required to complete 5 exchanges during the course of the race. 4. At the 98th lap, all riders not on the lead lap will be asked to move to the back or exit the pack. This is done so that teams on their last 2 laps can make their attempt to win the race. Teams which do not comply with this rule are believed to be impeding the progress of another rider and will be given a 5- to 20-second penalty or even disqualification depending on the severity of the violation.
The Bike Little 500 bikes are rather distinctive. They are single gear, coaster brake racing bicycles. There are two different versions of the bike: the men's and the women's. The only difference between the men's and women's bikes is the frame size; the men race on a 56 cm frame, while the women's bikes are built on 54 cm frames. Men and women race on the same 46x18 gearing. Every year a new version of the bike is made and then two are given to each team. The cost of the bikes are, for the most part, covered in the team registration fees and race sponsorship money. At the end of the season, team's are given the option to keep their bikes or to sell them back to IUSF. The used bikes are then kept at the track and are rented out by those teams that do not have old bikes.
The Exchange
This is one of the things that really make the race interesting. Because each team only has two bikes and four members, each member must perform at least one exchange during the course of the race. Though there are several different variations, there are two different types of exchanges.
Man-to-Man The first and most common type is a man-to-man exchange. There are two styles of man-to-man exchange: "dismount to mount" and the "ghost rider."
Dismount-to-mount To perform the "dismount to mount" exchange, the first rider must exit the pack and coast for about 15 meters in order to slow down. Then the rider on the bike will soft pedal until the right foot is back and level with the left foot in the front. Once the feet are set, the rider will then forcefully pedal backwards. Because the Little 500 Bikes are coaster brakes, this action causes the bike's wheels to stop dead and forces the bike to skid along the cinder track. During this skid, the rider on the bike will take her left foot off the pedal and swing it over to the right side. Then the left foot will come behind the right and hit the ground, soon followed by the right foot. This rider will still be running once off the bike and hand it off to the next rider. This is where many riders differ. Some mount the bike by crossing their left foot over and stepping on the left petal and then swinging their right foot over the bike. But more commonly, riders will run and then literally jump onto the bike seat. Both types have their advantages. The step on style can be very slow (if performed incorrectly) and impossible to perform if the pedals are not set properly by the first rider. But it is far less painful for the rider and much more reliable. On the other hand, jumping on the bike guarantees that the rider will get on the bike, and, when performed correctly, is faster than stepping on, but it can be very painful for most riders and often the initial shock of landing causes a momentary delay before the rider starts to get up to speed. This delay can cost crucial seconds when it comes to catching the pack. Also, for men there is the possibility of permanent damage to their reproductive organs. And many women suffer from vaginal bruising. Jumping on is also more dangerous because if performed improperly, riders are likely to take very hard falls.
Ghost Rider The other style, the "ghost rider," when performed correctly, can be faster than the "dismount to mount" style, but has the tendency to be more dangerous, which is one of the reasons why it is no longer taught to rookies during rookie week. In order to perform the exchange the rider goes through all the same steps as in the "dismount to mount" exchange, except, instead of stepping off the bike, the rider sets the handlebars and then grabs hold of the seat. Once set, the rider will push herself off the back of the bike while it is still moving. As long as the handle bars stay in line and the rider clears the back wheel, then the bike will keep going straight on its own until the other rider grabs hold and jumps on. The name "ghost rider" comes from the fact that when the first rider gets off, the bike keeps going as if someone were really still on it, like a ghost. There are several risks to this exchange. The first is if the first rider doesn't set the handle bars properly, then when she lets go, the bike will swerve and the rider will be thrown from the bike, and possibly take out other members of hers or other teams. Any rider performing this exchange must also be careful to clear the back wheel of the bike or else face the inevitable injuries associated with this type of accident. Another risk is that the second rider can miss the bike and it will cut into other teams exchanges or even worse, race traffic. In the women's race, the only team to consistently use this technique is Kappa Alpha Theta.
Bike-to-Bike The other type of exchange is known as a bike-to-bike exchange. The only reason that a team would use this type of exchange is if the team members are not all approximately the same height. More often than not, it is because one member of the team is shorter than the rest because most cyclists in the race are fairly tall. This exchange is far simpler than the other. The first rider only has to come in and tap the next rider's shoulder or arm and then the other racer can begin. While this is much easier than the other exchange, it is significantly slower because the second racer is starting from a dead stop, while riders performing the man-to-man exchange have some forward momentum.
To make things a little more interesting, each team, no matter what type of exchange they are doing, has to perform their exchange in the distance of two pits. The action of slowing is not part of the exchange, but the first rider is not allowed to begin getting off the bike until one pit ahead of their team's and the second rider must have complete control of the bike by the end of the team's pit. For bike-to-bike exchanges, the second person CANNOT move until tagged by the first person and the first person MUST stop before end of her team's pit. Failure to do either of these things will result in a penalty for the team.
Series Events
The Little 500 is much more than just the race. There are also several series events associated with the race. These events are held for a few reasons. The first and foremost is for fun. The second reason is so that teams can scout out the competition and get a feel for that year's race field. And the final reason is so that all the members of a team, not just those competing in the actual race itself, can still participate and compete. There are four other series events outside of the race: Qualifications, ITTs, Miss-N-Out, and Team Pursuit.
Qualifications