Congressman Bob Brady saves Philly's 2013 bike race
Philadelphia will have a bike race this year and it'll include the Wall in Manayunk.
Congressman Bob Brady saves Philly's 2013 bike race
Jan Ransom
Philadelphia will have a bike race this year and it’ll include the Wall in Manayunk.
The new 2013 race dubbed the Philly Cycling Classic will be organized by a team of sports event professionals with experience hosting cycling races, cycling advocates and local business and community leaders, Congressman Bob Brady announced today.
“The Mayor has called for a premier cycling event and the team we have pulled together intends to deliver nothing less for the City of Philadelphia in 2013,” Brady said in a statement. “As long as there is a Wall in Manayunk there will be a world class cycling event in Philadelphia.”
Shortly after David Chauner, founder of the Philadelphia International Cycling Championship announced there would be no race this year due to rising city costs and loss of sponsors, Brady immediately sprang into action to save this year’s race. Brady held a series of meetings with local elected officials, cycling enthusiasts and corporate leaders.
The new team of organizers for this year’s race does not include Chauner, of Pro Cycling Tour, who owes the city over $300,000 for last year’s race. Chauner’s relationship with the city has soured over the years.
The team includes Alan Morrison, business leader and founder of the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon in 2005, Richard Adler, head of Philadelphia Triathlon, LLC, Karen Bliss, vice president of Marketing for Advanced Sports International, Ryan Oelkers, co-founder of the Cadence Cycling Fondation, Bob Clowry, a Manayunk-based businessman and certified cycling coach and Jane Lipton, executive director of the Manayunk Development Corporation.
Robin Morton of G4 Productions will be the Race Director. Morton has 25 years of experience managing sporting teams. She also worked with Keystone Open, a cycling group that initially wanted to hold a race in July in Fairmount, but was unable to find supporting sponsors at the time.
Philly Cycling Classic will announce in the coming weeks overall title sponsorship and race sponsors. A community and advisory board of local cycling leaders will also be assembled to help maintain the annual event.
right on Bob keep up the good work— darkchild- Good job. We should be promoting these types of events in Philadelphia.— Vote for Dickie
- Some of you don't have a clue. I live on the path on Manayunk Ave. and everyone I encountered was respectful and having fun. Lots of families, etc. Philly=home of the most haters in the world.
- I love the race as I am a cyclist and out club always has a big barbecue on Lemon Hill to watch it and have fun. Unfortunately though the race has lost a lot of its luster the past few years and is no longer a race where pro-cyclist can gain points......as a result, it no longer pulls in big talent.— Sarmani
- BFD, now if Brady could do something that would really help the city.— Borkey
- I live in the Art Museum area. I agree that the City shouldn't sponsor this and many of the events on the Parkway. Some are great, but it's come to the point where it's every weekend there's an event, and they're not that significant. But, they tie up traffic, create lots of little and block the city streets sometimes clear across town. Enough is enough.
— Jim19130 - Thanks Lance for the continued diminished image of cycling. Corporate sponsors want nothing to do with dopers on saddles. The sport will disappear from the American psyche in a few years. LiveWrong.— PFCzar
- Thank You Mr Brady,I know you care about Phila and do the right thing for it.Now its time to step up to the plate and talk to nutter about diverting a strike with city union workers.Dont wait till it comes to that.You step out the first race after you realized the democratic vote would have been split putting a republican mayor .Its time you remind NUTZER that without you doing that he would be working for ballard sphar.— cityslicker
- What a @#$%^& hero! Geez Bob, thanks. How about you do something proactive for the first time in like, oh maybe, 40 frickin' years. Like resign, refuse the pension and get a real job like the other 2.6 million of us.— NW Joe
- What about the $300K owed to the city by the previous committee? Does this mean a new debt clock starts running and the old debt is forgotten? I'm all for the event but if it's unsustainable and nothing may change then it's not worth it.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- The race was saved, but where will the money come from? ... will announce in the coming weeks overall sponsorship... does that translate to the taxpayers paying?— junethe4th
- great. some dude from the northeast gives yunkers yet another miserable weekend in lockdown. thanks buddy.— Zampognari
- It is (almost) unbelievable how many haters there are in this city. When something bad happens, they're all over it. When something good happens, they are all over it, pooping away. I wonder how many of the haters have actually left the comforts of their recliners and beer meisters to attend the race? I worked as a volunteer on this race for many years, met some awesome people from all over the world, hosted teams in my home. No "hipsters" or "vomitors" or whatever nasty names you want to call them. Lots of very hard working and honest young athletes, not dopers, who work their butts off to compete and win, for not much money at all. Yes, the race has fallen on hard times due to a tough economy, the lack of it's US Championship status and the City imposing unheard of expenses on the organizers. Nutter speaks with forked tongue. Putting this race on takes huge amounts of work, mostly volunteer labor for race day and very small financial rewards. This is cycling, not golf or Nascar. My hat (or helmet) is off the Congressman Brady and the team of pro's he has organized to keep this race alive.— skippack_cyclist
- This is great for the city. I went for the first time to watch this race in 2010 took the Srt down into the city. Met quite a few awesome people and through them Even found Two great clubs. BCP and SCU. I do like what one poster put about making it a local event like a triathlon That would be pretty cool. Not sure what waterway could be used might have to settle for duathlon of cycling and running.
To all the naysayers manayunk has many bars So event or no event their will be drinking either way.— marcc - I attended the very first "Corestate" bike race. I was actually enthralled over the smile it brought to many faces. Bob you have my kudos on this one.— Frank J Graff
Follow Chris on Twitter
David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
Follow Dave on Twitter.
Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
Follow Jan on Twitter
Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
Follow Sean on Twitter
