The scene in front of the Auburn Arena was ecstatic and full of energy early Saturday morning, May 2, for Bo Bikes Bama.
Bo Bikes Bama, now in its fourth year, is a fundraiser for the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund.
The idea for the fundraiser came from former Auburn football player Bo Jackson after the devastating tornadoes that came through parts of Alabama in 2011.
The funds raised by this years ride will go to build storm shelters around Alabama.
There were two ride options, the 63 mile ride, which started at 8 a.m., and the 20 mile ride which started at 10:30.
“We had about 30 percent growth this year, which is huge,” said Rebecca Falls, ride coordinator for this year’s event.
According to Falls, there were 800 people registered from preregistration and people also registered the day of.
This year was the most successful year for the event, last year 630 people participated and the year before 350 people participated.
She said more people registered for the 63 mile ride than the 20 mile ride.
“Yes it has been a tremendous response this year, were so excited, everybody got online and registered early, we have a great crowd today,” said Julie Ward, public relations volunteer for the event.
This is the second time the event was held in Auburn, it has also been held in Cordova.
The first year of the event was a five-day ride to various cities across the state. According to Falls, Jackson was very involved in deciding what cities would be picked and wanted the stops to be cities that had been affected by the storms.
Several Auburn celebrities participated in the second ride of the day including Jay Jacobs and Bruce Pearl.
Other VIP riders at the event included Brian Bosworth, Gary Payton, Danai Gurira, Blake Leeper and Christian Vande Velde.
Jackson rode in both of the events.
“It’s very important to him that he gets a chance to ride with everyone here and say thank you for coming and supporting the cause” Ward said.
The sponsors of the event played a big part in making the event successful.
“Most of the background costs, like the setup costs of the event are paid by the sponsors” Falls said.
Because of this, a large portion of the registration fee went straight to the cause.
“We found that there are people (participants) from all over” said Rylee Roquemore, who works with Big Communications. She said that this year there was even a participant from Washington State.
Big Communications has been a producing sponsor of the event since 2012. They helped with public relations, social media and the website.
“People are really passionate about this ride and the cause, and people love Bo, so it’s not really hard to attract people” Roquemore said.
The amount raised by the event will be announced in the next few days.
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