Bicycle Messenger World Championships

Festival Location: Boston, MA, USA

Festival State: Massachusetts Festivals

Festival Type(s): Cycling Events, Street Sports, Bizarre Sports Events

By: © Nelson Taylor 2009

Every September since 1993, hundreds of bike messengers from 20-plus countries have met in a pre-designated city (Berlin, San Francisco, London and DC, to name a few) to compete in various messengering competitions.

"The biggest event is the Main Race," says Joel Metz, a San Francisco based messenger and volunteer organizer. "It's a normal bike race, except there's package delivery and pickup and other messenger related things going on." Other events include Cargo (large packages), the Bunny Hop (tricks) and Sprints (speed).

Close to 700 messengers show every year, paying $40 for registration. Some 2,000 spectators both cheer and jeer the racers and have the added opportunity to stroll through bike messenger art exhibits, watch films by and about bike messengers (this new genre of film is presently taking the industry by storm) and listen to music played by, you guessed it, bike messengers.

At $20 for a weekend pass, it's a deal. "We try to keep everything as cheap as possible," says Metz. "Messengers and their friends are notorious for not being the most solvent of people." Neophytes can also take a class: How to Become a Bike Messenger. Wouldn't Mama be proud!