''Les 24 heures vélo de Louvain-la-Neuve'' (English: the ''24-hour bike ride of Louvain-la-Neuve'') is a Belgian

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

organized by students from the University of Louvain (UCLouvain) held every year during October in

Louvain-la-Neuve Louvain-la-Neuve (; French for "New Leuven"; ) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town was built to house th ...

. The main event is a 24-hour

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

relay race A relay race is a racing competition where members of a team take turns completing parts of racecourse or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games. Relay races are common in running, oriente ...

spanning the whole city, surrounded by the crowd during various music concerts and parties. It is said that the event gathers more than fifty thousand people and that it is the second largest "beer event" in Europe after the

Oktoberfest Oktoberfest (; ) is the world's largest , featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October. The annual event attracts more than seven milli ...

. Approximately, 2000 students are involved in the organisation of ''Les 24 heures vélo de Louvain-la-Neuve''. In 2006, the 30th edition of the event took place from 25 to 26 October. The 2008 event passed without major incident, with between 45,000 and 50,000 people attending. The 2009 edition, taking place from 21 to 22 October, was attended by more than 40,000 people. One particularly serious accident left a young man at risk of paralysis after a fall. In 2012, the event took place from 24 to 25 October. About 40,000 people attended, but it was relatively trouble-free, with only 23 arrests, less than the previous year.

References

External links

CSE Animations, organisateur des 24 heures vélo
– organisers site (in French) * (in French) which gathers all the current needed information Student sports competitions Events in Belgium Autumn in Belgium {{cycling-stub

See also

References

External links