“I would like to see a world-class bike racing event in Portland.”
-Commissioner Adams
Last night at City Hall, a sub-committee formed as part of the bicycle industry task force, met to discuss the potentials and pitfalls of creating a major bike racing event in Portland.
The meeting got off to an exciting start when City Commissioner Sam Adams announced that due to a surplus in the City’s General Fund, one-time monies might be available to make the event a reality.
Adams encouraged the group to put a funding request together ASAP so he could bring it to City Council for a vote in less than two weeks.
This news gave an excited energy and sense of urgency to the proceedings.
Around the table were Sal Collura from the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association, promoter Brad Ross of Club Vivo, Drew Mahalic from the Oregon Sports Authority, reps from Commissioner Adams’ office, Sarah Bailen Smith with the Portland Jazz Festival, Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles, and leading the discussion was the PDC‘s bike industry liaison Jennifer Nolfi.
could be coming to Portland.]
After a wide-ranging discussion about other major bicycle races in both North America and Europe and the motivations for having one in Portland, the group reached a consensus on how to proceed.
The primary motivation of the race would be to further establish Portland’s bike brand and showcase the city (and to a lesser extent Oregon) as the epicenter of cycling in America.
Beyond that, a major bike racing event would have a significant economic impact for downtown businesses and hotels.
Brad Ross, who puts together Oregon’s most successful and well-known bike races — including the Cross Crusade and the Cascade Classic Stage Race — told the group that the Tour de Georgia would be a good model for Portland to aspire to. That race generated an estimated $26.2 million in economic impact and attracted 500,000 spectators this year.
The group preferred a multi-day stage race over a one-day event and a tentative outline for the race was put forth by Ross:
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Day 1 – Road race from Portland to Salem
Day 2 – Road race from Salem to Portland
Day 3 (2 stages) – Individual time trial and criterium in downtown Portland
Day 4 – Circuit race in Portland (including SW Hills to Skyline)
Day 5 – Road race to finish atop Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood.
If funding is approved, the race will likely be scheduled in August of 2008.
Drew Mahalic, Executive Director of the Oregon Sports Authority — whose mission is to “define the state of Oregon as the preferred location for select amateur and professional sports events” — added that,
“I think the Oregon Sports Authority is well-positioned to serve in a facilitator role in developing this event along with key people from the bike community.”
The funding request is likely to be for $1-2 million dollars over two years and the proposal should be finalized within the next few days. This proposal will compete with many other demands already on the table for these General Fund monies.
City Council will make a final decision on November 28th.