Last Fling big wheel race in Naperville

Pedal-pushers in this year's Last Fling big wheel races showed once again Saturday that it isn't all about winning, but the competition itself.

About 40 tykes took their tricycles for a tear down a stretch of Porter Avenue, behind Naper Settlement.

The races are one of dozens of special events presented in conjunction with the Naperville Jaycees' Labor Day festival, which continues through Monday in and near downtown Naperville.

Five-year-old Tommy Castillo of Naperville was poised to compete in the 5- and-6-year-old boys' contest. His little sister, Cara, 4, had already made a bid for a win in the 3 and-4-year-old girls' race.

"She was using her brother's big wheel. She couldn't quite reach the pedals. She was at a disadvantage. We need to buy her a girls' big wheel," said her grandmother, Mary Roberts.

Tommy, she said, would be driving an "antique" big wheel formerly owned by his uncle Jack, now a Naperville North High School football player.

The children, their grandmother and their parents, Sara and Bert, watched the youngest competitors screech across the finish line. Roberts pointed out that some drivers have big wheels equipped with brakes. Others used more rudimentary methods of stopping, such as scraping their feet along the ground or giving the steering wheel an abrupt turn.

"When you're little, you want to get that big spin at the end," said Roberts. "The big wheels are low to the bottom, so you're not going to flip over."

Luke Gaddis, 5, came in first in his initial racing heat but was initially unaware of what he had done.

"You get to go again," said his father, Dan Gaddis.

"Why?" asked Luke.

"Because you won the race," said his father.

Luke is a huge big wheel fan, said his mother, Vicki.

"He rides it to school and all around the block," she said.

Jaycees member Bob Elazan supervised the races from his spot near the finish line, beyond rows of orange traffic cones.

He said he's been running the big wheel races for about 20 years.

The races were moved to the street just south of Naper Settlement this year, from their former spot along the Riverwalk.

"Here, it's away from the crowd. I think we're going to start doing it here," he said.

Elazan said the top finishers in each age and gender division will receive trophies and ride a float in Monday's Labor Day parade.

All competitors, he said, received ribbons for doing their big wheel best.