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SKIBO, MN Originated just a year ago as a new and different way to pass the time during the cold winter months, a new competitive endeavor has become popular with thousands of people throughout the country.
Just a year ago, four men in Skibo began to realize that they had gotten caught up in a winter rut. They decided that they needed to find a new way to pass the time. One of them, Roger Halsted, suggested that they should all go to the pet store to buy gerbils. Then they could take them back to the garage and race them. The others thought it was a stupid idea—but, considering they had nothing better to do, they decided to give it a try.
Even though the whole thing began as a joke, the original group of four soon grew in number. Within a matter of weeks, a group of twelve began meeting together each Tuesday to race their carefully-groomed and well-fed gerbils. And, each Thursday, they gathered again to design and build new, challenging obstacle courses.
Little did the original four members of the Skibo Gerbil Racing Association know that their idea would catch on all around the country. None of them would have ever predicted that, just a year later, there would be almost 100 chapters of the National Gerbil Racing Association throughout the country. Now, each week, thousands of members meet to race their rodents.
Halsted—now the president of the national association—says he can’t even believe how his wild idea has caught on in the last year. He says that, within the next year, they expect to begin sponsoring national competitions, where the world’s speediest gerbils will have the opportunity to travel thousands of miles to compete against others for the title of America’s Speedy Gerbil. A television deal with ESPN is also in the works.
Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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