bike

NEW ROUTE for 2009!

he Old Howard 100 is a ride through three counties in Alabama's Black Belt sponsored by Samford University's Howard College of Arts and Sciences. This year's route will include Selma, with the final rest stop at First Baptist Church just a few blocks from the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge. Proceeds from the ride will benefit Sowing Seeds of Hope, a partnership between Perry County and Alabama Cooperative Baptist Fellowship that seeks to improve the quality of life and work in Perry County through improved educational opportunities, health care, tourism, transportation and economic development. 

Schedule

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Route

New Route for 2009!

*Routes of approximately 30, 45, 75 and 100 miles are available.
Five SAG stops at historic sites. 

Riders begin at Judson College and ride through downtown Marion, past Marion Military Institute, former home of Howard College. Riders will head west for 15 miles through the Perry County countryside to Newbern, home to the Rural Studio project of Auburn University. Thirty-mile riders will return to Marion by the same route.

 

Proceeding north in Hale County, riders will pass through downtown Greensboro on the broad, tree-lined Main Street with its many homes of distinctive architecture-Greek Revival, Federal, Victorian, Gothic Revival-and onto the grounds of Magnolia Grove, built c. 1838 and the ancestral home of Admiral Richmond Hobson, hero of the Spanish-American War. All riders then return to Marion by way of a stop in Folsom at Holmstead, Alabama's longest continually-running plantation, which has been in the same family since the early 1800s. The 45-mile route ends back at Judson.

 

Century and 75-mile riders continue through Marion and southward, across the Cahaba River and the Perry Lakes wetlands region, to Suttle before splitting: either to return to Marion or to proceed into Dallas County for the final stop at beautiful First Baptist Church in downtown Selma. Century riders will be rewarded with views of historic structures, including the Edmund Pettus Bridge and cemeteries framed by live oak trees draped with Spanish moss. The return to Marion takes riders through sweeping farm and pasture land.

 

registration

 Early Registration                   
  $35                                                 
 Late Registration (after April 10)
   $45
 Student Rate
   $15
 Perry, Hale and Dallas County Resident Rate
   $10                  
 

 

  

Click here to print registration form. Please make checks payble to Samford University and mail to:
Old Howard 100 Bike Ride
c/o Dean's Office
Howard College of Arts & Sciences
Samford University
800 Lakeshore Drive
Birmingham, AL 35229

Electronic registration available through www.active.com. *Please note that discounted rates for students and ride-county residents are not available online. For more information please contact Bridget Rose.

 

history

The Old Howard 100 is only the most recent Samford University initiative to promote awareness of and appreciation for Alabama's Black Belt. The University was born there as Howard College, in the town of Marion, in 1841. The Baptist college, which took its name from the 18th century English prison reformer John Howard, thrived in Marion thanks in large measure to the generosity of the town's citizens.

The magnificent antebellum homes still standing in Marion and throughout the Black Belt bear witness to the region's great wealth and cultural importance at the time of Howard's founding. But, after the Civil War, the region suddenly found itself in an economic freefall from which it has never fully recovered.

As the Black Belt's fortunes waned, boosters from Birmingham, Marion's new industrial neighbor to the north, offered generous incentives for Howard's relocation to the East Lake community near the booming city. The Alabama State Baptist Convention accepted Birmingham's offer and moved the college to East Lake in 1887.

The college relocated to its current home in Shades Valley in 1957 and became Samford University in 1965. Howard College of Arts and Sciences remains at the heart of Samford, and in recent years, the University has sought to repay the kindness and generosity that sustained the college in its early decades.

Old Howard survived fires, wars, financial and cultural upheaval, relocations, and renaming to become one of the top universities in the Southeastern United States. Now, it returns to its birthplace with volunteer tutors, health-care workers and community boosters. Now, it returns with its cycling friends, who will find there natural beauty, rich history, cause for both concern and hope, and above all, a warm welcome.

Sponsors

The Old Howard 100 would like to thank the following for their support:

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