Foreigners Once Again Win Annual Fathers Day Skyscraper Harlem Cycling Classic

New York, NY - June 21, 2010 - The late Dave Walker, founder of the Skyscraper in 1973, must be smiling in heaven as he watched five of the top six winners in the annual Fathers Day Skyscraper Cycling Classic held around Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, on Sunday June 20, 2010. The bicycle safety program that dave started for kids in 1973, grew into an international cycling competition in less than 10 years, with international competitors, many of whom were on their country's Olympic cycling team. Like the NYC Marathon, it was seldom that an American, much less a New Yorker, won the then grueling 35-mile race. This year, the championship race was renamed the David Walker Memorial Skyscraper Harlem Classic and consisted of 62 laps around the park, for a total of 50 miles.

The Memorial was two races in one, with German teammates Christian Grasmann and Leif Lampater, cycling for the Transportation Alternatives/Rockstar Games team, taking turns leading the other one into the wind, with the rest of the pack more than 25 seconds behind, in the battle for third place. Grasman took 1 hour 38 minutes 41 seconds to cycle the 50 miles. Melito Heredia of New York finished third, 13 seconds behind Grasmann. Fourth, fifth and sixth places were all won by teamates from Argentina. There was a $15,000 prize for the top winners. It was the lack of a money prize that kept the international cyclists away for so long.

Before the pros raced, there was a series of community races, according to age, with the top three listed in each age division listed below.

The winner in each division received a new bicycle and the Mayors Cup. More than 80 kids from Philidelpha, wearing their team racing colors came to Harlem to compete. there were no NYC youth teams. This should give youth workers some ideas about establishing youth cycling teams that will be ready to represent nyc in next year's Fathers Day Skyscraper.

Community Race Results
See also community race photos

	Male	Female
7-10 Years Old - 3 Blocks
1st	James Albanes (Manhattan)	Kaisalys Paulino (Bronx)
2nd	Quinten Bullous (Mt Vernon)	Rosalia Garcia (Pa.)
3rd	Sebastian Cain (Brooklyn)	Danae Waterbury (Huckessin)
11-13 Years Old - 1 Lap Around Park
1st	Thomas Gonzalez (Brooklyn)	Tenano (Pa.)
2nd	George Lu (Pa.)	Saqueno Nance (Pa.)
3rd	Chris Williams (Pa.)	Bobbi Correno (Bronx)
14-18 Years Old - 2 Laps Around Park
1st	Wojciech Plata (Staten Island)	Daisha Daniels (Pa.)
2nd	Anthony Freeman (Bklyn)	Brenea Mitchell (Pa.)
3rd	Edikson Rena (Manhattan)	Kimberly Garcia (Pa.)
19+ Years Old - 5 Laps Around Park
1st	Edwin Santos	Marla Gonzelez
2nd	Joe Fuchs (Oakland, NY)	Angel Valentino (Bronx)
3rd	Horace (Rockaway)	Patricia Hamilton (Mt. Vernon)