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.
Yob should be flipped onto his back by a girl half his height. Just sayin'.— Another_1- Great for the city - not so great for those who live near the bike race route. Public drunkenness, urination, vomiting, fights - can't wait! Please let us know the date of this so we can get out of town!— stillaflyerfan
- Amgen, the manufacturer of Epogen, the erythropoietin produced using recombinant DNA technology (EPO) is a sponsor of a big race out West. Philly has bio-pharm...cycling has bio-pharm. Let's go.— tooly
- Thank god the race has been saved. Stu Bykofksy was running out of material for his columns.— cookie23
- Comcast is the biggest Philly based business. They should be asked to sponsor this.— drjk888
- Just remember. Big Beef Brady gets 10% off the top and his wife gets to be the head cheerleader at the Wall.
Now back to sleep, sheeple.— Wilhelm Von Humboldt - Why do so many people hate EVERY civic event in their own city? Parades, bike races, concerts, you name it, this site explodes with negativity. Big civic events are part of the fabric of a city. If you don't like the things that come with them - partying, overtime, road closures - why would you choose to live here? I just don't get it. Negadelphia indeed.— bosstime01
- Great article. Not a word on who is picking up the tab. I smell a Pulitzer...and a rat.— Konstanty
- So who did Bobby extort money from this time?— jcc1960
- Can you see it for what it really is, "Free Cheese"! 16.5 Trillion Dollar National Debt and Bobby Brady is giving you cheese.— tlee
- good job Bob i knew you could do it. im glad the race is going forward me and my family love it. see you at lemon hill— mmadonna
- To all of you who wrote or agree with the above negative comments, I suggest you go to the race and see for yourself. I am an avid 70 year old bicyclist and I think Philly would be a better place if many more of its citizens took up cycling as a sport and also for regular transportation. All sorts of people attend the bike race, not just "hipsters", whoever they are. It is great to meet teams from all over the world in Fairmount Park. The UK team walks by and we yell at them,"Hey - you guys burned down our White House!" There are Australians, Italians, etc. It is a great experience for Philadelphians and adds a new valuable dimension to our city— prenestino
- I hear there will be a surcharge on traffic court fines to underwrite the race. I know Brady can make that happen.— Paul Deon
- We had great schools before diversity. Why does BRady live in an all white neighborhood?— DiversityDestroyedPhilly
- We had great schools before diversity. Why does BRady live in an all white neighborhood?— DiversityDestroyedPhilly
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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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