Thursday Night Lights have dimmed for the 2015 summer Northbrook cycling season at the Northbrook Park District Ed Rudolph Velodrome. The Sept. 10 season closer brought out the cycling community to the velodrome at Meadowhill Park.
The last night of the season is typically relaxed, cyclists say. A cookout bonded a community the Northbrook Cycle Committee is proud of.
“I love it,” said Carl Wilkins, a race official of more than four decades from Kenosha, Wisc. “I’ve been involved all of these years and I just like the competition. I like to watch the athletes.”
Wilkins was one of several officials Sept. 10. He took his bike around the velodrome and came in second in a race official match, a tradition for the final night of the season that finds athletes cheering on the officials.
Wilkins is known on the local racing circuit and rang the bell to mark the start of races.
“I used to race five years,” Wilkins said. “It’s (Ed Rudolph Velodrome) one of the bigger tracks in the country.”
“It’s just a very unique track,” Wilkins said of the 382-meter track that sports an 18-degree embankment. Former park district commissioner Ed Rudolph helped design and build the track in 1960.
Chuck Burke of Northbrook, active in the cycling community and a U.S. Olympic team speed skater in the 1950s (1952 and 1956), was there to share conversation.
“He’s (Wilkins) a very dedicated official and very knowledgeable,” Burke said.
Sad to see the season end, Wilkins looks forward to next year.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance photographer and reporter for Pioneer Press.