24 hours of louvain-la-neuve bicycle race marks 50 years
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In 1976, Hugues Michaux, André Jasienski, and their fellow students at the Centre Sportif Étudiant (CSE) in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, created the first 24-hour bicycle race as a way to energize their new university campus.
The CSE, an early student project group, received a task to boost activity on the campus, and the race emerged from brainstorming sessions. The organizers secured permissions from the UCLouvain administration, police, and local government, relying on word-of-mouth to spread the news.
Facing a lack of public lighting, the students ingeniously fashioned lanterns from empty tin cans filled with sand and kerosene, which they lit along the race route. They also dealt with last-minute sabotage and ensured cyclists had access to repair materials by soliciting help from local residents. Thirty-seven teams participated in the inaugural race, despite limited preparation time for many. The first event proved successful, attracting praise from the UCLouvain administrator who invited the organizers to discuss future events.
Neither Michaux nor Jasienski anticipated the race’s longevity, but it continued annually, growing in size and scope. Today, the 24 Hours of Louvain-la-Neuve draws up to 70,000 people, though only a fraction now participate as cyclists, with many attending for the festival atmosphere.
