I'm still trying to figure out how to give away a plane ticket as a prize. I've got 50,000 frequent flyer miles to give away, which gets you a round-trip in the lower 48 on NorthWest. Should it be the grand prize for the fast ones, or the ones who bring in more food?
4 comments:
I think the prize should be for the fastest... I mean, it doesn't seem right that whoever drops the most money on canned food should win a prize. Though maybe I'm missing part of how it works... I've never done an alleycat before.
The thing is, the whole point of the race is that it's a food drive. If people race super fast and get to the finish line with a single pouch of Ramen and a can of tuna, that's not exactly going to stock the food bank very well. And besides, there's people with super-high fitness who could win the race every time if it was just based on riding fast. That would be boring for everyone else to always come in behind the same people.
I guess what I'm saying is: embrace the spirit of the event - it's about riding bikes, and gathering food. It's doing both, superbly, that should reap the greatest reward. I'm just trying to figure out how that will work.
Also, the sponsors who have been so generous to contribute the prizes are doing it on the understanding that it's a benefit for a food bank. It needs to reflect that.
I should mention - it's NOT about how much money people spend on food, it's about HOW MUCH FOOD they bring in. A $5 bottle of Worschestire Sauce is kind of bullshit. Instead, how about $2.50 for 5lbs of rice? That could last someone weeks - and it's a righteous kind of thing to bring in to a food bank.
Hauling weight takes effort just like riding hard, so there's fitness involved in that too.
For what it's worth, there are multiple prizes, of various types and worth, and it's not just one prize for one winner - plenty of prizes in different divisions.
Well! That all makes plenty of sense. I guess the question is, then, how do you measure how much food someone has? By weight? By number of servings? By calories might make the most sense, but seems rather tedious to add up. Anyway. I'm sure all you clever people will figure it out! And I hope to be there, work-permitting.
In a perfect world, "most food" would be something like... ((calories not from fat) x (fiber) x (average of USDA recommended Vitamin content)). But that's too complicated, and probably a flawed model anyway.
It's going to be by weight. A flawed system, surely, but it's what "the industry" (food banks) uses as a measure for such events.
Hope to see you there!
Bring friends, and their bikes too. :)
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