By Marisa Penkauskas, Marketing Manager at Interactive Fitness
The drama of the last two days in the Expresso Fall Frenzy Tournament is like nothing we’ve ever seen. One hundred and forty five North American colleges came together in this virtual reality cycling competition hosted by Interactive Fitness, each competing to win the Championship title and the coveted Golden Spokes Trophy.
This bracketed tournament happens over a span of five weeks. There are five 48-hour rounds where students participate to see who can ride the most miles on Expresso virtual reality bikes. Riders can choose from 43 courses and need to steer and shift to get over the hilly terrain before pedaling to the finish line. So far, 145 teams with 1,186 participants have ridden 14,542 miles.
Last year’s winner of the Golden Spokes Trophy is back in on the action this year! In this first Qualifiers round, Schoolcraft College earned the #1 spot by riding 1,952 miles and securing a seed in the upcoming Super Sixteen round taking place next week from October 13–14.
A team to watch in the upcoming weeks is Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, California. As first-time competitors, they recruited 99 students, faculty, and staff, and pushed the competitors to work hard. They earned 1,176 miles—only 776 miles under the top team.
Teams like Carnegie Mellon University, University of Iowa, and Gannon University are back from past years and made it through to the Super Sixteen. Only 16 teams moved forward, and all have put in over 250 miles in the first round. They’ll all come together again next week to ride the most miles in their match-up.
The Super Sixteen
Schoolcraft College (1) vs. Lock Haven University
Saint Mary’s College of California (2) vs. Colorado Mountain College – Spring Valley
Gannon University (3) vs. SUNY – Oswego
Houghton College (4) vs. Marist College
SUNY – Binghamton (5) vs. Carthage College
Carnegie Mellon University (6) vs. University of Iowa
Valparaiso University (7) vs. University of South Dakota
Cedarville University (8) vs. Salem State University
All Tournament
At the end of the 2015 tournament, the top 25 individual riders will receive All-Tournament Honors. The following riders are currently leading the pack:
- John King, Houghton College, 302 miles
- Pat Mog, Schoolcraft College, 284 miles
- Joey Wilmot, Houghton College, 153 miles
- Mark Zajicek, Carnegie Mellon University, 145 miles
- Branden Kitchen, Gannon University, 140 miles
- Tyler Barry, SUNY – Oswego, 137 miles
- Abby Quinn, Gannon University, 126 miles
- Stephanie Omlin, SUNY – Binghamton, 113 miles
- Thomas Marshall, University of South Dakota, 111 miles
- Blake Bradish, Gannon University, 101 miles
- Jennifer Deasy, Saint Mary’s College of California, 100 miles
- Jason Hicks, University of North Dakota, 92 miles
- Tamara Wrone, Schoolcraft College, 91 miles
- Billy Smythe, Schoolcraft College, 88 miles
- Ben Schmidt, Colorado Mountain College – Spring Valley, 88 miles
- Charles Whitehouse, Saint Mary’s College of California, 85 miles
- Tyler Prochnow, Carthage College, 80 miles
- Michael Waldyke, Schoolcraft College, 80 miles
- James Gartner, Carnegie Mellon University, 80 miles
- Jonathan Hicks, Valparaiso University, 75 miles
- Justin Thomas, SUNY – Binghamton, 69 miles
- Ken Byler, Penn State University, 67 miles
- Shane Hutson, Vanderbilt University, 67 miles
- Don Henry, Gannon University, 66 miles
- Josh Harper, Saint Mary’s College of California, 65 miles
Tune into the Expresso Fall Frenzy Tournament from October 13–14 to follow the action—and feel inspired to pedal even harder the next time you’re at the gym!
For more information about the 2015 Expresso Fall Frenzy Tournament, please contact Marketing Manager at Interactive Fitness Marisa Penkauskas.