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.
- Put the race out of its misery. It lost $300,000 last year. Who's going to pay that $300k this year, Philadelphia taxpayers? All so a bunch of suburbanites can come to manayunk, get hammered and urin ate publicly?
— hannibal barca - Put the race out of its misery. It lost $300,000 last year. Who's going to pay that $300k this year, Philadelphia taxpayers? All so a bunch of suburbanites can come to manayunk, get hammered and urin ate publicly? — hannibal barca
The only reason he "saved" it is because police and city workers love it for countless hours of overtime. It's certainly not because he wants people to have a good time. It's all about money.— masterncommander- Brady said so himself that police count on the overtime from this event. Well, guess what Bob, nobody should "count" on overtime. That's why they get a salary. — masterncommander
- PEDs will be flowing down the street on Manayunk!!— DelcoSchmelco
- So anti-tax
So instead of organizers bearing the services, you're saying that taxpayers should pay for City services provided to the race?
Isn't that counter to you name?— ald - Brady agreed to huff and puff up the wall. When he comes up to the top totally covered in sweat, he will look more like Lance Armstrong.— Aces high
- another usless politician doing something doesnt matter at all...good job— eisfresh
- ANT-TAX......you are an idiot....all sporting/music/entertainment events are charged fees for the services they use......ie street clean-up & police and sanitation....should the city residents pay these fees.....this cycling event brings less revenue to the city than the Welcome America/Made In AMerica/the Dad Vail Regatta and many other events, because less people actually travel from out of town for this event thus less people staying at hotels, and shopping for this event....The Pro-Cylcing Organization is poorly managed, and failed to find a sponsor....why is that this city's fault? every event we host in this city is somehow able to find sponsorship.....unfortunatley this was just a failed shake-down attempt by Pro-Cyling Org a dead-beat that still ows the city money— genius1977
- Bob is going to lead the pack, on his bike, to the start finish Line in his Spandex shorts and cycling bib...I'll pay to see that. Good for Bob, now he can focus on getting us another Casino.— 72Tiger
- Compared to the pigs and strippers at the wing bowl and the clowns and sophomoronic sets and dancing in the mummers parade (after the muscians they are all a bunch of drunks) the race is a true test of skill and endurance.....and a major ride in the cycling world and respected by cyclists from all over the world....Sure it is a party....for spectators...but no more than a football game tailgate at the Linc or a tailgate at the baseball game at Citizens Bank....Thanks Bob...."the WALL" is unique to the sport and the pros love to test their skill on it....and if cost is the issue....the mummers will be gone....so chill out...enjoy a real sport and walk the Wall and tell me how you feel about those that ride it faster than you can run it....— nuggett
- Yes! All the trolls had their moment of glory snatched from them by The Wolf, Bob Brady! Rejoice trolls, you now have one more thing to complain about!— Cheesesteak
- Yo, the event should be named WEED "well everyone else does"... juice up. win a dopey race, write a book, get rich...then confess on Opera TV...well everyone else does!— rex nemorensis
Congratulation Congressman Brady, once again you show how leadership solves problems that scheming deadbeats leave behind for the public to pick up after and pay for. This is a great sporting event with real skill, stamina and strength on display, as opposed to say, driving cars around in circles and declaring a winner. Surrounding this great activity is the celebration of life and living, eating and drinking which is of course what we human beings do. Again, good job, another victory for Philadelphia in overcoming the obstacles of failed businessmen who never built anything in their lives other than a bad credit rating.- So happy to this event continue. Its a fantastic event, and a great thing for the city.— asv
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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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