One Less Car event runs through city of Corvallis

Numerous students, members of community came out to run/walk in first annual event Saturday

By: Noah Tinker

Posted: 5/16/07

Sarah Benrath is worried.

The graduate assistant for the Health and Fitness Connection at the Dixon Recreational Center is concerned that her fellow citizens have the distinction of being the world's greatest consumers, especially of gas and oil, while at the same time leading the world in obesity rates.

In order to combat the dual problems of environmental and arterial degradation, Benrath thought up the One Less Car Event, a 5-10K run/walk through campus last Saturday. The annual event, which is in its first year, is designed to get OSU students and members of the Corvallis community to ditch their vehicles and experience other ways of traveling, using any type of renewable resource. The event encourages transportation by walking, biking or doing anything else in people's imaginations.

"Fifty percent of trips that Americans make are less than four miles - they're very short trips," explained Benrath.

Each term, OSU sponsors events to promote physical activity and active lifestyles, and the One Less Car Event was spring term's contribution.

"This term we wanted to do something a little bit different, and I really wanted to involve the environmental aspect of this," Benrath said.

The MU Quad held witness to the scope of imagination possessed by Beavers and Corvallis residents who took to the streets of campus with their feet, bikes, rollerblades and even shopping carts.

Kenyon Solecki, a junior, decorated his 'Nascart' with cardboard siding and spray-paint and had a 45-pound weight tide to the bottom.

"The weights ... well, if they weren't there, we'd pretty much just fall off the back," Solecki explained. "It kind of counterbalances our own weight."

Leon Dunham, a massage therapist who works at Health and Fitness Connections, brought along his kayak cart loaded up with stuffed animals.

"I wanted to show off my cart because this is one of the coolest ways to get around, to actually be able to use your bike as your vehicle," Dunham said.

Environmental protection was a big draw for Dunham. "It is definitely an issue that I think about a lot, and what I really wanted to do was show that you can actually use your bike as a vehicle."

Solecki looks forward to the One Less Car Event becoming a mainstay at OSU in years to come.

"It's a great event, a great cause," Solecki said.

Dunham also plans on attending next year.

"It was good," Dunham said. "I've been using the cart with the kayak for three or four months, but this is the longest ride I've done on it. "

Participation was free. However, those who paid a fee - of $10 for students and $15 for community members - were given a t-shirt and entered into a drawing for prizes, which included a bike and gift certificates from the Darkside and Avalon Cinemas as well as the First Alternative Co-op.

"Our main goals were to increase social interaction, increase awareness of the issue while at the same time increasing people's enjoyment of being active," Benrath said.

If the environment can benefit too, things are that much better.