Joan Hanks, a junior in Naranja, won a gold medal yesterday by bicycling safely through the obstacle course of construction surrounding all entrances to Lagunita court in record time.
“I went in with a pretty solid game plan,” Hanks said yesterday morning after receiving the gold, wiping sweat from her brow. “I thought to myself: don’t stop, no matter how rough it looks, no matter how many pedestrians you injure.”
Hanks’s trainer, Naranja RA Amelia Johannesson, praised the work ethic Hanks displayed in training. “We’ve been at it since the beginning of spring quarter, when they blocked off all sensible exits from the courtyard,” she said. “Joan really worked for it every morning; no matter the weather, she was out there perfecting her technique.”
The obstacle course has been designed by biking experts to pose a challenge to even the most experienced bikers. Its complexity is increased by fleets of police officers and a heightened risk of citations. Construction workers are also distributed along the course to direct bikers in unsafe and illegal ways, on sidewalks and through narrow dirt pathways, to increase the likelihood of crashes.
“The obstacle course really wakes me up every morning,” said Eucalipto freshman Tom Saunders. “It changes every day, so if you’re even a little bit drowsy, chances are you’ll plunge into a ditch and die.”
