Part I: The History of the Race

by KYW's Steve Tawa

Organizers Dave Chauner and Jerry Casale have been associated for about 40 years. It began when Dave, as a young racer in the late '60s and early '70s, frequented the Hill Cycle Shop, owned by the Casales, in Chestnut Hill.

Chauner (right) says that in planning for the first event back in 1985, they wanted to do a circuit race, where fans could watch racers do laps, rather than European-style point-to-point events, during which you see the riders just once all day:

"We started at the Ben Franklin Parkway, just below the art museum, because of the majesty of it -- very much like the Champs Elysee in Paris, where the Tour de France finishes every year."

And Chauner recalled those rides through Manayunk over to the Casale bike shop:

"The hills reminded me of the pictures in magazines of the races in Belgium and France."

He says that's why they picked side streets off Main Street in Manayunk, including Levering Street and Lyceum Avenue:

"And so we dubbed it the 'Manayunk wall' [photo above]. We believed it was the steepest and most challenging hill we could find in Manayunk."

It's that punishing 17-percent grade hill that rises nearly 250 feet in a half-mile. The men will climb it ten times on the 14.4-mile circuit. On the same course, the women do it four times.