Bike-a-Thon

We have been doing an annual bike-a-thon for almost 15 years now to help kids raise money for camp. With minimal effort from the kids, most of them are able to cover the full cost of camp.

We do a 20 mile bike ride on a trail in one of the local parks. The trail is about 6.5 miles from one end to the other so the kids ride it 3 times. We station workers at each end of the trail and at a shelter house near the mid-point. There are also some workers that ride with the kids.

The kids are given a pledge sheet to have people pledge them ??cents per mile or just a blanket pledge if they ride the whole 20 miles. Many of the kids will be asking friends outside of the church for pledges so the expense is spread around a little. After the bike-a-thon is over, the kids go back and collect the pledges. The pledges are turned in and credited to their camp account.

The number of workers you need depends on how the trail is set up and how many kids are riding. I like to have one worker riding with the fastest kids, one with the slowest kids, and one somewhere in-between. There are also workers with water and snacks at each end of the trail.

I have found this event easier to manage if everyone meets at the church and goes to the trail together. In the past we have put kids and bicycles on the church bus to transport them to the trail. I advise making a list of all riders, their bike color, and what they are wearing before starting the ride. The leaders at the end of the trail should have a copy of this paper so they can check off riders as they pass by.

Invite parents to come ride with you. This will give you extra adults and supervision on the trail.

*** Our youth have done a variation of this called a bowl-a-thon. The youth got pledges for every pin they knocked down during 3 games. Unless the bowling alley is going to give a discount rate on bowling (or donate it), the youth are not going to make very much money.