For the fifth straight year, a team from Union won the Gearshaft award for most participants from Schenectady County in the annual Bike to Work Day Workplace Challenge.
Sponsored by the Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC), the event promotes bicycling as a fun way to commute to work for employers in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties.
More than 500 riders in the four counties registered for the May 18 event. They represented more than 6,400 bicycle miles, replacing 260 gallons of fuel and 5,096 pounds of CO₂. They also burned about 279,000 calories.
Union had 37 riders from a range of departments across campus. In addition to the highest number of riders from Schenectady County, the College’s participation eclipsed the other three county winners: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Central Office (Albany, 29); Saratoga Springs Public Library (Saratoga, 26); and RPI (Rensselaer, 11).
Team captain Gail Golderman, librarian for digital services at Schaffer Library, had the longest commute for the College’s team. She pedals 40 miles round trip from her Albany home daily. A number of team members live blocks from campus for the shortest commute.
Besides Golderman, other team members included: Anita Brudos, Laura MacManus-Spencer, Lisa Trefethen, Kathleen LoGiudice, Ginny Casper, Jonathan Marr, Janet Sweeney, Megan Ferry, Kim Plofker, David Sindoni, Stephen Schmidt, Edward Teller, Diane McNamara, Robyn Reed, Strom Thacker, Brittney Belz, Sayyida Hasan, Michael Vineyard, Matt Malatesta, Penelope Adey, Nicholas Kender, Laura Munkres, Berkeley Ellis, Joy Dohring, Andy Morris, Hugh Jenkins, John Rieffel, Raik Zaghloul, Tak Buma, Blair Raymond, Diego Bazan, Adam Brinker, Francis Wilkin, Jeff Corbin, Nick Webb and Jennifer Warner.
The team’s trophy remains on display in Schaffer Library.