official IFBMA site
Each year the Cycle Messenger World Championships celebrates the love of our profession and lifestyle. An international event where bike messengers from around the world come together for an intense mental and physical competitions.
This year, bike messengers from across the globe will shred the streets of Jakarta!
Come and join us in the 27th edition of the championships!
These are the new guidelines for creating gender inclusive championships.
These have been officially adopted by the IFBMA by a vote in Riga and will be implemented at all CMC’s going forward.
We, (the members of the *BMA and the IFBMA) will be available to organizers on an ongoing and involved basis to assist in this implementation. Not just for Championship races but for all race events within our global community.
a copy of these guidelines are available here to download
Over the years we see websites come and go. This includes CMWC sites also. As they are a reference and history of messengers. A few years ago it was brought up at open forum and on the IFBMA Facebook wall that sites should be backed up and kept as reference and a call for previous sites was made… no sites were submitted. messengers.org is where the various main events can and should be backed up including CMWC, NACCC and ECMC and other top level area events.
The CMWC selection process tells us that at open forum one year out an approved city needs to provide a website and TWO years out must pay a deposit.
I’d like to push that all these CMWC sites be hosted under the messengers.org umbrella and that the deposit a city pays is actually the fee pays for their hosting as compulsory. However not compulsory for NACCC, ECMC but offer cheap hosing and be backed up and accessible after a domain name expires or private hosting plan expires.
A host city still has complete control of their website and need to pay for and point their domain name (as per usual) to their directory within the host. In this case messengers.org . The person in charge of the host city website will receive a cpanel log in and have complete access to create emails and other normal tools. The only thing different is the fact that once the domain name expires the site will still be available in the future. Hosted at MESSENGERS.org
Please feel free to discuss at OPEN FORUM.
Yogi
just because…
Thanks to the support and trust of the international bike messenger community, we have the pleasure of hosting ECMC 2018 – the 23rd European Cycle Messenger Championships. For four days, the streets of Szczecin will be taken over by urban cyclists celebrating and promoting their lifestyle. A variety of races, competitions, parties and events will be held all across the city. The main goal of the ECMC is to determine the fastest, smartest, toughest contestant of the Main Race to be crowned the new European Champion. It’s not all about the competition, though. Just as important is the sense of camaraderie that comes with meeting fellow messengers from all over the world. The shared experience is perhaps the main reason why hundreds of cyclists gather in a different European city each year.
The strong sense of bond and connection that comes with choosing this exceptional lifestyle is what makes the international messenger community unique and worth getting into.
22.-26.AUGUST.2018
The organization of the event is supported by the Velokurjers Ltd. and the association The Latvian Cyclist Union. The Velokurjers Ltd. is the leader in the same day delivery in Riga and the most modern in the Baltic states. To see more visit www.velokurjers.lv/eng/
The association The Latvian Cyclist Union is the largest cycling organization in Latvia the goal of which is to promote cycling. See more www.divritenis.lv
Riga is the city having been granted the honor of organizing the 26th Cycle Messenger World Championship in a very special year for all Latvians. On 18 November 2018 we will celebrate Latvia’s centenary. And this championship in 2018 is our involvement in the great celebration!
We invite everyone to enjoy Latvian traditional dishes – peas with bacon, bread soup, sweetened rye trifle, bacon stuffed rolls and drinks – kvass, beer, Riga Black Balsam. There are plenty of entertainment places in Riga – nightclubs, cafes, cultural and sporting events, hostels and hotels. Most young people can speak English.
REGISTER to enter CMWCRIGA
http://cmwc2018.com/en/register/
entry includes
You can make your payment directly to our bank account. Please contact us for the details – info@cmwc2018.com.
The CMWC is a yearly international event where the best and brightest bike messengers from around the world meet for two days of intense mental and physical competition. This year, it’s Montreal’s turn to host, and we invite you with open arms to come race, party, and above all, fall in love with our wonderful city.
……link
HELLO AGAIN MESSFAM!!
ECMC and CMWC are just a couple of weeks away so now is the time to speak up if you’d like an item added to the Open Forum Agenda. If there is something you would like to discuss please send an email message to leahhollinsworth(at)gmail.com
Also it is the time for hopeful cities to raise their hands if they plan on throwing their caps in the ring to host either ECMC 2017 or CMWC 2018. If you intend on putting in a bid please send a message in letting us know! Thanks!
Looking very forward to an amazing month of events!! See you all soon!
Copenhagen, the City of Cyclists, is proud to host the 21st annual European Cycle Messenger Championships. Messengers from around the world will converge on Copenhagen for a celebration of the vibrant global courier community and wider urban cycling culture. 40€ early-bird registration is now OPEN: ecmc2016.com/registration
Social Media:
facebook.com/copenhagenecmc2016
Hey mess family!
It has been ages since we posted anything on here and thats about to change! Going forward I am going to endeavour to post wayyyyy more often on here, everything from upcoming events to issues that affect us as a community.
In order to make this more exciting I would like to reach out to the community as a whole and ask for submissions. If you have a race coming up please shoot me an email with the info you’d like shared along with any artwork and Ill post it straight away! If you attended a race, or event and want to write a few lines about how rad it was please do so and send it along and I’ll make sure to share it. The same goes for any topic that you think needs to be shared or talked about…send it in!
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So much has happened in and to our global mess fam in the past year…. we have sadly lost an unprecedented number of our friends recently and if there is one thing to take away from these terrible losses is the strength of the bond we all share. I have seen a huge outpouring of love and support for those close to the ones we have lost. This is one of the things that makes our family so damn special. Lets continue to be there for each other, in good times and in tough times.
Ride In Peace
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There have been some really amazing developments this year too… like the founding of the WBMA, ~Womens Bike Messenger Association!! The idea was born in Melbourne during CMWC this year and the WBMA had its first official meeting at Denver NACCC! There was a huge turn out of amazing, strong and empowered women and I am proud to stand beside them! The WBMA gives us an incredible opportunity to combine our voices and really be heard and to make a difference in our community.
If you’d like to join the WBMA please email:
wbma-international@googlegroups.com
or get in touch through the Facebook Group
In case you were questioning if a group like this is really necessary you just need to check out the tasteless and sexist post made by Chrome Industries yesterday on their Instagram account, and the incredibly well thought out and articulated response from the WBMA. THIS is one of the many reasons that the WBMA is so welcomed and needed.
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CMWC MELBOURNE
* I am hoping that someone more eloquent than me will step up and do a more in-depth report on CMWC but I can briefly say that it was an amazing time!
The Pre-Event in Sydney was so much fun! We saw all the sites during some super fun alleycats and rides. Team Footdown and Team scavenger hunts saw us divided into “gangs” Yabos, Westies and Bogans, complete with gang shirts,quickly turned into cut off flannels!
The group ride was, for lack of a better word, EPIC!. We were prepared for “gentle rolling hills along the coast” What we got was intense, pedal grinding climbs and sometimes terrifying descents along the headlands of the east coast of Australia. The (dead) wildlife was plentiful as were the amazing views. We biked through 5 or 6 national parks and camped in a couple. The food and beer was free and plentiful for the whole group ride ensuring that many “bonnets were popped” around the campfire each night.
We finally pulled into Melbourne on a chilly morning about 5am and were met by a crew of locals and those out of towners who had already arrived directly to Melbourne. We all dropped our bags at our respective housing spots and headed to the Brunswick Velodrome for some exciting track racing and my introduction to Track Cross(?).
As I sit here and reminisce about the whole trip I am slightly amazed at how much it is all one big happy blur! Might have been all the Coopers!! The Main Race took place in a beautiful part of the city right along the harbour and from all accounts was a great and well run race. There was a large vendor area where bike business shared their products and services. The BMEF/LCEF had a booth and thanks to the support of our large community we raised a couple thousand dollars for the Funds. <3
Another exciting development that came out of discussions at the Open Forum was the desire to create a Pacific Rim Championships in addition to the NACCC, ECMC, and CMWC. This new CMC would include Australia, and NewZealand as well as Singapore, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Taiwan, Japan, Philippines South Korea, etc… There are so many countries that are home to many bike messengers that are just not aware of our global mess family and we are trying to change that.
ECMC Milan
*please send in any pics/words about ECMC!
The ECMC in Milan was preceded by an absolutely mind-blowing pre-event and group ride from Basel, Switzerland. We were treated to 3 days and nights of good food and fun times on our bikes. The Swiss really know how to organize and if you’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a Swiss organized messenger event you may have a slight idea of how incredible the pre-event and group ride was! The ride was fully supported and myself and Mischka along with anyone and everyone we asked to help, ensured that there was enough food each meal to feed 120+ starving messengers. Highlights of the trip included a fun night in Zurich, being hosted by an amazing family at a farm in the country, camping in the freezing rain in Andermatt, the ride over the Gottard Pass that saw temperatures below freezing before a 60km decent into Locarno where the temperatures were above 30c (90f) and of course the pilgrimage to see Madona Del Ghisallo the patron Saint of Italian cycling
After paying our respects we headed downhill into Milano! And what a welcome it was! The Italians showed us lots of love and reuniting with our messfam was, as always, bellissimo!
We were treated to a party at the famous, historical Velodromo Vigorelli! It was built in 1935 and although it no longer hosts track events it is still open and hosts other sporting events. What a beautiful piece of history!
The food was phenomenal as was the espresso. Everyone suddenly “spoke” italian….basically we all just faked a fun Italian accent and spoke in the only Italian words we knew…. “Espresso! Fussili! Linguini!” You get the picture!
The Open Forum saw Copenhagen, Prague and Vienna put in exuberant bids to host ECMC 2016 and in the end Copenhagen won! I will be sure to post more info as it comes in but keep your summer travel calendar wide open as there are plans to have 4-5 weeks of Pre-event->ECMC Copenhagen->Post-event->Pre-event Cologne->CMWC Paris!
DENVER NACCC
*if someone wants to write something up about NACCC this year, that would be fantastic.
The Mile High City certainly showed us a great time! The weather was perfect, the beer and weed were plentiful as was the amazing riding. There was only a small crew of organizers in Denver but that didn’t stop them from throwing an incredible and well planned out NACCC. The qualifiers were held in an industrial area that had very little traffic and everything went off without a hitch. There was some issue with the number of ladies put through to the finals which was rectified when brought to the attention of the organizers. After the results of who would go through to the finals were announced it was also announced that the Finals would be held in open traffic around the city of Denver. This created quite a bit of controversy and this topic is one that I think will be discussed more in the near future. (If someone could write something up on this… great!) After much discussion and a small protest/moment of silence the race got underway. It was a gruelling 4 hours in sweltering heat at a 5,280 ft or 1,610 m elevation. In the end Kelly Pennington from Montreal and Austin Horse from NYC were crowned the 2015 NACCC Champions! Congrats to you both!
This years Open Forum had Baltimore, LA and Milwaukee all putting in bids to host NACCC 2017. We used the ballot system of voting again this CMC and it went smoothly again. Many people expressed their appreciation for the newer system as it allowed them to vote with their heart and not due to peer pressure. The system is a simple one and only has 2 requirements of voters..
1) you must be a working or ex messenger to vote
2) you must have attended a NACCC either this year or last year
The voting is open from the end of the first Open Forum and concludes at the beginning of the Awards Ceremony on Sunday night. You must submit your ballot containing your name, race number and the city you’d like to vote for. If you are attending the event but did not register you must come and see me and Ill simply add your name to the list of voters. You DO NOT need to be registered in order to cast a vote. I do my best over the weekend to find each and every person and ensure that they have cast a vote but the onus lies with you to find me -not a hard task!- and submit your ballot. The system is very transparent and accountable. Each vote is cross checked with a master list and in the event of any concern to do with the voting, each vote can be verified. As always we are open to suggestions and are eager to discuss any improvements.
Lastly a quick update on the BMEF..
Each year we receive more and more requests for assistance from the BMEF and this year is no exception. We have paid out over $10,000 this year to messengers who were injured on the job. Annual fundraisers like MAYDAY, and The MarioKart Krit are crucial to the ongoing ability for the BMEF to help when needed. Please consider throwing a BMEF fundraiser in your city. Every dollar helps! It can be a race, a poker night, a movie night, a band show, etc! Get creative!
The BMEF is also selling merchandise to help raise both funds and awareness. We currently have available:
Tshirts -$20
Hoodies-$40
Caps-$15
Jerseys-$80
Koozies-$5
Patches (white or black)-$5
AssSaver Fender $5
If you would like to order any BMEF merchandise please send me an email here or hit me up on Facebook here and Ill get you all set up! You can also “like” us on Facebook here and check out our website here
Thats all for now but please get in touch with me and let me know what you’d like to see more of on here! Share pics, words, fliers etc.
See you soon!
~Leah