In 2011 the Cycle Messenger World Championships were held in Warsaw, Poland and in 2012 Chicago was the host city. This past weekend Lausanne, Switzerland (population 120,000) hosted the 21st Cycle Messenger World Championships. Though living in Lausanne I didn't know the championships were going on until I was cycling through the city and came upon street closures in the city center and witnessed a slew of cyclists zooming past.
This was the finals on Sunday afternoon. Messengers had to make a series of deliveries around a course set-up in the very hilly old town area. Sound simple? No, it's not. In the background you see Lausanne Cathedral. Part of the course includes having to cycle up and down cobblestone streets near the cathedral and getting off your bike and carry it up and down steep stairways.
Participants included men and women and all looked like they could give Tour de France riders a run for their money.
This is one of the stations where the messengers delivered a letter or package and had their invoice stamped by an official.
The temperature was in the 90's and involved four hours of zipping up and down and navigating the course.
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