City's professional bike race is on

The race is on.

After 10 days of uncertainty, organizers of the TD Bank Philadelphia Cycling Championship announced yesterday that they had secured two new sponsors needed to assure the event's 25th running.

They declined to identify the sponsors, but they said they would cover about half of the $500,000 budget gap that had put the professional cycling race in jeopardy.

"We will name the sponsors at a news conference next week," Dave Chauner, cofounder of the race, said. "But we wanted to let everyone know now that the race was on so plans that have to be made can proceed."

Even with recently increased ticket sales, Chauner said his group still needed to find $100,000 to $150,000 in funding, but he said he was confident that would happen between now and the June 7 race.

"With the new sponsors and the momentum we have had with VIP ticket sales, I think we are going to be all right," he said.

The annual race is one of Philadelphia's signature public events. It is considered the premier single-day professional cycling race in the United States. It also is a free festival that draws hundreds of thousands of fans and revelers to a daylong block party running from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway to the Manayunk "Wall."

First held in 1985, the race was threatened this year by the global fiscal crisis.

First, organizers lost a number of sponsors, including two that had provided $225,000. Then the city, facing its own financial troubles, announced it could no longer subsidize the race by waiving the cost of police and sanitation services. That amounts to nearly $250,000 in additional expenses.

Race organizers found that even after slashing expenses, they were $500,000 shy of the $1.7 million needed to run the race.

Since The Inquirer first reported the race's difficulties last week, Chauner said he had been inundated with offers of help from around the globe.

"It has been very gratifying how many people have called to say they wanted to help," he said.

Gov. Rendell stepped forward and authorized the state to buy $50,000 worth of VIP tickets for state workers. U.S. Rep. Robert Brady (D., Pa.), too, has been working behind the scenes to secure additional sponsorship for the race, Chauner said.

In all, about $80,000 has been raised in the last week in VIP ticket sales.

Chauner said he expected sales to continue between now and the race and to account for a significant amount of the remaining budget gap.

"We are just really happy we can keep doing this," he said. "We don't have a lot of time between now and the race and there is a lot to do, but it isn't like we haven't done it before. We have a great crew, and it's going to be a great race."