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Norman Conquest
Riders Conquer the Heat and the Hills
Five hundred and
eighty-one cyclist conquered the heat and the
hills that have become the trademark of the
annual Norman Conquest Bicycle Tour sponsored
by the Bicycle League of Norman (BLN). The July
19 event was a charity event in support of the
Camp ClapHans summer camp scholarship endowment
fund. Camp ClapHans is a project of the J. D.
McCarty Center for children with developmental
disabilities in Norman.
According to Uwe von Schamann,
director of development for the McCarty Center,
the Norman Conquest netted $4,200 for the Camp
ClapHans scholarship endowment fund. "We
are very pleased with our first year results,"
von Schamann said. "This is the first year
that the BLN has run this event as a fundraiser
and they did a nice job. We believe that this
event has a lot of growth potential as a bicycle
tour and fundraiser."
"It was a great event,"
said Dave Ferguson, president of the BLN. "It
turned out better than I ever expected. We want
to thank the riders for supporting this event.
And we really want to say a special thank you
to our event sponsors and volunteers. It takes
about 60 volunteers to make this event run smoothly.
Without either group we'd never be able to pull
this event off."
The BLN Norman Conquest
committee for this 13th annual event was composed
of Dave Ferguson, BLN president, Ken Kehoe,
BLN vice president, Rick Gutierrez, Norman Conquest
director, Corri Ide, Norman Conquest sponsorship
director and Michelle Carr, Norman Conquest
director of facilities and volunteers.
The Norman Conquest Bicycle
Tour offers riders four routes of varying challenge.
There is the flat 10-mile family tour through
the city of Norman. Next is the 26-mile route
with a few hills. The next route is the hilly
46-mile tour. And for those who really like
a challenge, there is the 66-mile very hilly
route. It is on this route that the BLN offers
four hill sprints that lead to the King of the
Mountain honors for the rider that can score
the most points in these sprints.
The BLN has set the date
for the 14th annual Norman Conquest. It is scheduled
for Saturday, July 18, 2009, at the J. D. McCarty
Center.
The Norman Conquest will
again benefit Camp ClapHans. This overnight
camp will be built in the southwest corner of
the McCarty Center's 80-acre campus. The main
portion of the camp will be situated on the
western end of a 20-acre lake. Camp ClapHans,
which will have a Native American flavor to
it, is named after former University of Oklahoma
and NFL football player Sammy Jack Claphan.
Claphan, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation from
Stillwell, Oklahoma, was a special education
teacher after he retired from professional football
and loved the special needs children he taught.
The J. D. McCarty Center
is Oklahoma's center of excellence in the care
and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities from birth to age 21. Founded in
1946, the McCarty Center provides inpatient
and outpatient services in physical, occupational
and speech-language therapy. At the hospital's
founding, they only treated one diagnosis…cerebral
palsy. Today the McCarty Center has treated
more than 70 different diagnoses in the developmental
disability category. In an average year, the
McCarty Center will treat children from 70 of
Oklahoma's 77 counties.
For more information
about the Norman Bicycle League and the Norman
Conquest Bicycle Tour visit www.bicycleleague.com
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The 13th annual Norman
Conquest Bicycle Tour held July 19 contributed
$4,200 to the Camp ClapHans summer camp
scholarship endowment fund. Camp ClapHans
is a project of the J. D. McCarty Center
for children with developmental disabilities.
Camp ClapHans will be Oklahoma's first camp
to be specifically built and designed for
children with disabilities. Presenting a
check to Uwe von Schamann (center), director
of development for the McCarty Center, are
Norman Conquest committee members (l-r)
Michelle Carr, Ken Kehoe, Corri Ide, von
Schamann, Dave Ferguson and Rick Gutierrez.
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