USA Pro Cycling Challenge Donates its Presenting Title Sponsorship to Millennium Promise

NEW YORK, May 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time in a professional sporting event in the U.S., the USA Pro Cycling Challenge today announced the donation of the competition's presenting title sponsorship to Millennium Promise, the leading international non-profit organization solely committed to helping end extreme poverty.  With the new official title "USA Pro Cycling Challenge for Millennium Promise," this donation will introduce the organization's life-saving work to the millions of fans around the world who will be following the event through live television coverage on NBC, VERSUS and online.    

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110513/LA01641LOGO)

In addition to the sponsorship donation, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (UPCC) and Millennium Promise also announced the official launch of "Spokes of Change," a philanthropic campaign which will harness the energy of cycling enthusiasts and sports fans in the global movement to end extreme poverty.  Using the tagline "If we move faster, we win," Spokes of Change seeks to equip mobile health workers in Africa with bicycles, cell phones, medicines, and other necessary supplies to deliver basic medical care to young children and mothers in rural locations.  Spokes of Change will be promoted at race-related events and through public service advertisements.  

"We are proud to be the first professional sporting event in the United States to name a charity as a presenting sponsor," said Shawn Hunter, co-chairman of the UPCC.  "There are millions of bikes out there, creating a lot of energy.  We want to use the USA Pro Cycling Challenge as a resource to harness some of that energy and make it work for Millennium Promise."

"To break the mold by having a charitable component tied into the race in some capacity has been a goal of ours for some time," said UPCC co-owner Rick Schaden.  "The global magnitude and scope of the platform that the USA Pro Cycling Challenge provides gives the charity a means to generate mass awareness to an audience that might not otherwise be reached.  We are proud to share this platform with such a noble cause and look forward to the continued development of our relationship and the positive impact we can have as we move forward."

To begin the initiative, Schaden has donated the value of 1,000 bicycles to Millennium Promise through the Spokes of Change campaign.  This will support the work of community health workers and other key activities in the Millennium Villages Project, the flagship initiative of Millennium Promise.  

"As part of this great race, the Spokes of Change initiative launched today is a special way that racing fans around the world can be a part of this great uptake of new approaches to saving lives and helping the poorest people in the world," said Millennium Promise co-founder and president Jeffrey D. Sachs. "Spokes of Change will empower Community Health Workers to be trained and put into positions to make a world of difference."

"A properly equipped community health worker delivers critical live-saving services at extremely low cost to several hundred people at a time in the poorest communities around the world," said John W. McArthur, chief executive officer of Millennium Promise.  "Bicycles, mobile phones, medicines, and training are all essential underpinnings of success, so we are incredibly grateful to the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and Rick Schaden for their efforts to promote such practical breakthroughs across the cycling community."

Donations to Spokes of Change can be made on www.SpokesOfChange.org, as well as through the main website of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge www.USAprocyclingchallenge.com.

About the USA Pro Cycling Challenge

The USA Pro Cycling Challenge is expected to be the largest spectator event in Colorado history and one of the largest sporting events to ever take place in the United States.  For seven consecutive days, 128 of the world's top athletes will race across more than 500 miles through the majestic Rockies, reaching higher altitudes than they've ever had to endure, more than two miles in elevation.  It's the best of the best in professional cycling, competing on a challenging course through some of America's most beautiful scenery, including cities such as Aspen, Vail, Breckenridge and Steamboat Springs.  

As the interest in professional cycling continues to grow as a global sport, (which is evident by the addition of two new UCI-sanctioned races this year alone in Beijing and Quebec), the USA Pro Cycling Challenge becomes the second anchor cycling event for the United States.

The inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge will take place August 22-28, 2011.  With more than one million spectators expected at the event, as well as national television exposure on NBC and VERSUS, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge will be one of the largest cycling events in United States history.  

Spectators of this race will see Olympians, World Champions and Tour de France competitors.  Fans worldwide will have access to the competition and riders like never before with the most advanced, interactive online, smartphone and broadcast television experience presented to date in professional cycling.

More information can be found on the website www.USAprocyclingchallenge.com and Twitter page @USAProChallenge.  

About Millennium Promise

Millennium Promise is the leading international non-profit organization solely committed to supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Millennium Promise oversees the Millennium Villages project, which supports integrated social and business development services for more than 500,000 people in rural communities across 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.  More information can be found on the website www.MillenniumPromise.org.

About Spokes of Change

Spokes of Change is a campaign initiative between Millennium Promise and the USA Pro Cycling Challenge that raises awareness of the critical role that Community Health Workers (CHWs) can play in saving the lives of young mothers and children in Africa. By providing CHWs with bicycles, essential medicines, supplies, and training, we are helping move toward an end to extreme poverty.  More information can be found on the website www.SpokesOfChange.org.  

Contact Heather Krug, Rogers & Cowan 310-854-8156 or [email protected]
or Michael Haas, Rogers & Cowan 310-854-8189 or [email protected]

SOURCE USA Pro Cycling Challenge