Little 500

The Little 500 (also known popularly as the "Little Five") is a bicycle race held annually at the Bill Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University Bloomington. The race was founded in 1951 by the late Howard "Howdy" Wilcox, Jr., Executive Director of the Indiana University Foundation, who modelled the race after the Indianapolis 500, which his father had participated in and won in 1919. Racers compete in teams of four, racing relay-style for 200 laps (50 miles) along a quarter-mile track. Thirty-three teams are selected in qualifications trials to compete in the main race.

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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 race has expanded into a whole weekend of activities since its original founding; the Women's Little 500 (100 laps, or 25 miles) was first held in 1988 and continues to be run each year, and other events such as the Little 500 Biathlon, Alumni Races, and the Mini 500 tricycle race add to the festivities. Other student celebrations during the weekend of the race have helped earn it the title of "The World's Greatest College Weekend."

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The events of the Little 500 were dramatized in the 1979 movie Breaking Away, which depicts a group of Bloomington townies who enter the race as the "Cutters" (from the local Indiana limestone stonecutters) to defeat the favored fraternity team.

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Bicycle: A bicycle, or bike, is a pedal-driven land vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. First introduced in 19th-century Europe, it evolved quickly into the familiar current design. With over one billion in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of transportation...

Race: A race is a population of humans distinguished from other populations. The most widely used racial categories are based on visible traits (especially skin color and facial features). Conceptions of race, as well as specific racial groupings, vary by culture and time and are often controversial due t...

Indiana University Bloomington: Indiana University Bloomington is the principal campus of the Indiana University system. It is popularly known as "Indiana University," IUB, or simply IU. It is located in Bloomington, Indiana, in Monroe County, Indiana....

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