For nearly 80 years, Taylor students have gathered to watch one of the university’s most recognizable traditions: Taylathon. This year, students once again gathered to race, cheer on their classmates, and take part in one of Taylor’s oldest traditions.
After the races, the senior girls took first place, followed by the sophomores, juniors, and freshmen. In the boys’ race, the juniors came in first, followed by the sophomores, seniors, and freshmen.
Taylathon is a bike relay race where teams of 6-8 students have to travel a set route for a certain number of laps, changing riders every other lap. The trick is, the bike can never stop moving. This brings the utter chaos and delight of this beloved tradition.
While the races themselves may only last for a short time, preparing for Taylathon takes weeks of work.
The tradition dates back to 1948, when Taylor held a freshman induction race. The following year, it became an inter-class competition. Over the decades, the event has changed many times, including different courses and anywhere from eight to a hundred laps. In its earliest years, Taylathon was more than just a bike race, featuring events such as tug-of-war, rodeo games, stand-up comedy competitions, and sports matches. By the mid-1970s, the name “Taylathon” came to refer specifically to the bike race.
The event continues to change today.
Members of the Inter-Class Council (ICC) help organize the race through administrative, public relations, and decoration teams. Administrative work includes arranging EMTs and getting stickers for the bikes, while the decoration team creates the theme and designs and decorations for the event. This year’s theme was Cars.
Junior class treasurer Grace Masters said that everyone on ICC eventually contributes to the event, regardless of their specific team.
“Everyone pitches in on deco to pick the theme for the actual event and then paint all the cardboard cutouts or designing the shirts,” Masters said.
For Masters, one challenge of organizing Taylathon is getting students to participate in front of the entire student body, especially early in the school year. But that challenge is also part of what makes the tradition meaningful.
For the students actually riding, preparation looks a little different. Teams practice passing the bikes from one rider to another while moving, one of the most important and nerve-wracking parts of the race. Senior Psychology major Grace Fandrich said her team practiced twice a week, focusing particularly on exchanges and figuring out the best order for riders.
“You really get to know your teammates and really trust them,” Fandrich said.
That sense of community extends beyond the teams themselves. Senior youth ministry major and vice president of ICC. Cam Baker said the event gives people a chance to bring different parts of the Taylor community together.
For sophomore accounting finance major Joey Mikel, participating in Taylathon for the first time was another way to become part of Taylor’s traditions.
“I kind of just want to try to do all of the traditions at least once,” Mikel said. “To be a part of this one, where there’s only six of us participating out of a class of, you know, 600, it’s just an honor.”
Nearly eight decades after its beginnings, Taylathon looks different from the event students experienced in 1948. Its courses, events, and participants have changed. Yet its purpose remains familiar: bringing students together to compete, cheer each other on and create another year of memories.
As Masters put it, preserving a tradition does not necessarily mean keeping everything the same. Sometimes, carrying a tradition forward means making it new again.
