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The Cycle Messenger World Championships, or CMWCs, are an annual urban cycling competition whereby cycle messengers and cycling enthusiasts showcase their skills in an array of events, many of which simulate everyday tasks for a cycle messenger. Each year, the CMWCs are held in a different city around the world, with each host city designing its own unique course. The highlight of the CMWCs is the main race in which cyclists are given manifests and must pickup and deliver items to various locations around the host city as quickly and efficiently as possible. The total number of pickups and deliveries, or "drop offs" is unknown to the messengers before the race, but has been known to reach up to 100 stops and usually takes between 3–4 hours to complete. The cyclist who completes all of the assigned deliveries in the least amount of time wins the race. In addition to the main race there are also several side events which have become increasingly popular over the past few years. These events change yearly depending on the discretion of the host city but usually include backward circles, bike polo, bunnyhop, cargo race, longest skid, sprints, and trackstand. ==History== The idea for the Cycle Messenger World Championships, or Cycle Messenger Championships (CMCs) as it was initially called, was first conceived in 1992 by Achim Beier and his assistant, Stefan Klessman.〔 Both worked for messenger Berlin, a Berlin-based messenger service, and were inspired to have a gathering of the world's bicycle messengers after talking with co-worker and ex-Washington D.C. bicycle messenger Michael "Ozone" Odom. Beier then took a trip to New York City where he visited Washington Square Park and talked with local bicycle messengers including James "The General" Moore about the proposed idea. The idea was received well by the local messengers and thus Beier and Klessman began planning the logistics of the first Cycle Messenger Championships.〔 Since no competition of this type had ever taken place, there were many challenges to overcome before the first CMC be completed. Most notably, the host city, Berlin, needed to approve the proposal of such an event. This, in itself, was an enormous task since many streets had to be shut down for an entire weekend, the duration of the event, including 17 Juni Strasse, the main thoroughfare for East-West traffic through Berlin, and the area around Brandenburg Gate.〔 In the end, the city of Berlin approved the event with only minor changes to Beier's requests and in 1993 the first Cycle Messenger Championships took place. In all, around 500 messengers participated in the inaugural event.〔 Though the 1993 CMC was declared a success, it lost a substantial amount of money. As a result, Beier and Klessman decided to transfer ownership of the event to a sports marketing company which had expressed interest in organizing it. Beier and Klessman stayed with the project, acting as consultants, to ensure that the competition retained its authenticity.〔 The marketing company, though based in Berlin, had a partner in London and thus it was decided that the 1994 CMWC would be located there. Unfortunately though, months before the scheduled date of the CMWC the marketing company pulled its sponsorship of the event and left Beier and Klessman alone on the project.〔 After much deliberation, it was decided that the 1994 CMWC would still take place in London, though now it would be organized solely by cycle messengers. Against all odds, the event took place and attracted around 500 participants.〔 Once again, the CMWC was deemed a success. With the sting of the marketing company's withdrawal still fresh, several cycle messengers at the 1994 event decided to form a committee dedicated to the successful realization of the CMWC. Largely self-appointed and without any real power the committee floundered.〔 The need for such an organization, however, was being realized by more and more cyclists. The 1995 CMWC took place in Toronto, and in 1996 it was hosted in San Francisco. It was here that the International Federation of Bike Messengers Association, or IFBMA, was created for the purpose of guaranteeing that the CMWC would take place each year.〔 This committee, unlike the previous one, was open to all who wished to attend and thus had the potential of being a legitimate organization. Since the inception of the IFBMA the CMWCs have taken place each year in different locations around the world. The following is a list of host cities along with the year they hosted, or will host, the CMWCs:〔 - 1993 Berlin, Germany - 1994 London, England - 1995 Toronto, Canada - 1996 San Francisco, USA - 1997 Barcelona, Spain - 1998 Washington D.C., USA - 1999 Zurich, Switzerland - 2000 Philadelphia, USA - 2001 Budapest, Hungary - 2002 Copenhagen, Denmark - 2003 Seattle, USA - 2004 Edmonton, Canada - 2005 New York City, USA - 2006 Sydney, Australia - 2007 Dublin, Ireland - 2008 Toronto, Canada - 2009 Tokyo, Japan - 2010 Panajachel, Guatemala - 2011 Warsaw, Poland - 2012 Chicago, USA - 2013 Lausanne, Switzerland - 2014 Mexico City, Mexico - 2015 Melbourne, Australia - 2016 Paris, France - 2017 Montreal, Canada 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cycle Messenger World Championships」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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