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
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.
The race is just another expensive reason for college kids to drink & get drunk. Let it go.— tonyS- Don't be a hater just because you're old and bitter. — TGPhilly919
- TonyS = sad, bitter, loser with no friends. What do you like to do for fun TonyS? Watch a lot of TV? — FixThisCityPlease
- Why? It is an event that has failed to support itself.— stphilajb
- It's actually the premier cycling competition in all of the United States. You can let it go. Others will strive for greatness.— flyers70
- Actually you are incorrect. Its no longer a sanctioned event for the professional cyclists, which is why both attendance and interest have declined. Its now nothing more than a drunken vomitfest. — intelliwoman
- Oh no! Young people peacefully having fun. The horror! — TGPhilly919
- Just like the Mummers, the Wing Bowl, and beating Rangers fans at Geno's. Now those are noble Philadelphia traditions. — cookie23
- With all do respect to the race, all of these events are dependent upon sponsors. Without the sponsors the races do not exist. Cycling is such a tainted sport now. The Lance Armstrong race in question, saw the first 21 finishers test positive for PEDs. Philadelphia is a city of neighborhoods...Manyunk represents one that resurged a while back...that should be embraced. Perhaps creating a different type of race, like a Triathlon, or a team based race incorporating the wall and other aspects of the city would be more beneficial. The majority of the cyclist are not from Philly, where as most of the near 40,000 participants of the Broad Street Run are locals.— reasonableihope
- Yay! The hipsters can get drunk and ignore the race! That was a close one!— bleck78
- no hipsters in manyunk, all yuppies/preps...gotta go down to fishtown for the hipsters. — templephan
- Once again the city/nutter charges outrageous fees to an organizer and Brady comes to the rescue. Way to go Bob.— anti-tax
- "The Mayor has called for a premier cycling event...deliver nothing less for the city of Philadelphia for 2013". Huh?
— Wiseman6 - Events like the bike race are good for Philly, even though it had declined in popularity since its heyday with CoreStates/First Union. Less money was put into it. You folks who feel it's only for the "hipsters," will always have your wingfests, drunkbowls, etc., so everyone is a winner with this attempt to keep a good thing going.— Yob
I don't partake of the Philly Bike Race AT ALL.
But I understand COMPLETELY that such events makes for a better Philadelphia.
Thank You Congressman Brady.— Cuddles
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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
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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
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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
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