Altoona’s Tour de ‘Toona is the latest race threatened with cancellation due to a lack of sponsorship dollars, the Altoona Mirror is reporting today.
Organizers are now weighing whether to cancel the four days of racing now planned for July 16-19, but are holding out for one major sponsor. If cancelled, the Altoona race will join a list of races cancelled this year for lack of funds, including those in Reading and Allentown, the Tour de Georgia, the U.S. Open of Cycling in Providence, R.I., the Mount Hood Cycling Classic and the Tour of New York.
Organizers had high hopes for the Tour de ‘Toona this year. For most of its 22-year history, the tour was an annual week-long list of races. Last year, it was shrunk to a single day. This year, organizers had planned four days of racing.
Raising money has been harder this year than ever for the event,promoter Rick Geist told the Altoona Mirror on Wednesday. Geist said he expects to know soon whether the races will be held.
“We certainly don’t want to put on an event where we can’t pay the purses,” Geist said.
If cancelled this year, Geist said they will try to pull the race together for 2010.
