Friday, June 12, 2009
The 2009 HPD Moonlight Classic was a great success with over 1,000 riders participating. We would like to thank our volunteers and sponsors for their generous time and donations.
SPONSORS:
City of Houston
Landry's Restaurant's, Inc. / Downtown Aquarium
Houston Police Department
Halliburton
Linn Energy, Inc.
Stewart & Stevenson
BMC Software
ClearChannel
Dreyer's Ice Cream
Greensheet
Houston Coca Cola Bottling
Jamba Juice
Rhymes Marketing and Advertising
The Second Annual Houston Police Foundation Moonlight Classic Bike Ride took place on Friday, June 12th, along a closed route of Memorial Drive between Bagby and Shepherd Drive. The five mile route was traffic free for the event with many of the officers donating their time to the event so that the riders could have a safe route to ride. The event kicked off with a children’s ride at 9:00 p.m. and at 10:00 p.m. all the adults took to the course. The children’s and adult rides started with a firework display that was put on by the HPD Bomb Squad and music from Landry’s and Clear Channel Communications. There was a total of 970 riders in the event and of these 200 participated in the children’s ride.
Registration for the event was held in front of the Downtown Aquarium on Bagby Street where the street was closed down and displays were set up for the public. The displays included one of the newly acquired MD 500 HPD Police Helicopters, the SWAT BEAR vehicle, a weapons display from the SWAT officers, a display from Bomb Squad, the DWI BAT Van, and an information table from HPD Recruiting. Registration went smoothly because 884 of the riders pre-registered through the Houston Police Foundation’s website, www.houstonpolicefoundation.com.
All registered riders received a ‘goodie bag’ that included an event t-shirt, coupons for Java Juice and Sun and Ski Sports, a rider’s bib with riding number, and a wrist band that granted access to all the rides at the Downtown Aquarium. This year also featured the inaugural HPD Moonlight Classic challenge coin that was sold prior to and during the event. N.
Riders were encouraged to make as many of laps around the course that they could make in the allocated time with the event coming to a close at midnight. Several of the riders made up to five laps on the course with a few of the more dedicated riders making up to seven. Chief Harold Hurtt along with Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin rode in the event along with numerous other police officers that came from surrounding agencies as well as the FBI and members of the Houston Fire Department.
By D.J. Thomas
