By Clark Smeltzer
The Ride Magazine, May 2000

BOSTON- Boston is officially no longer the host of the 2000 Cycle Messenger World Championships. The deadline for the licensing of the event passed on April 7th without the city giving its approval. The city now loses out on an international competition that attracts 600-700 participants from 18 countries. The event was to be a chance for Boston to show it is indeed a "bike friendly" city; in 1999 Boston was voted the worst city in the nation in which to work as a messenger by the IFBM, the International Federation of Bike Messengers. Boston was also voted as one of the worst cycling cities in the nation by Bicycling Magazine in their annual rating of bike friendly cities.

Official concerns voiced by the city were mainly traffic related. "We can't close down the streets and take away parking," one Boston official said, "This isn't your normal point A to point B race. We can't close down the city for that long." One of the organizers of the event cited previous examples of cities that had indeed been able to make it work, "In Washington, DC, we had a course that was three blocks from the White House. In San Francisco, we used Telegraph Hill. And now Boston can't make this work?"

Messengers loudly voiced their reactions to the decision on the Internet, "Looks like Boston has earned another year as being the IFBM's worst city to be a messenger in," "It is ironic that the CMWC complies with all of Boston's publicly stated concerns about messengers. There is insurance, helmets are mandatory, messengers wear clearly identifiable numbers, and all race laws are enforced," "Banned in Boston, Embraced by the rest of the world," "It's hard to accept that your hometown doesn't love you."

The city, already reeling from negative exposure brought about by the Big Dig, will also miss out on the positive exposure gained from hosting such an event. The Museum of Science, which was to host the welcoming party, had planned live webcasts from certain events. Multiple television stations have voiced interest in covering the event, including ESPN2 and FoxSports. Previous cities have garnered exposure on National Geographic Explorer, Good Morning America and ESPN.

Whatever the reason for the decision, Boston's loss will be another city's gain. And Boston will continue to earn the accolades it earned in 1999.