US collegiate racing starts Saturday

US cycling is well and truly out of hibernation this weekend. As well as the first NRC event of the season, the McLane Pacific and the start of the NORBA series in Texas, the collegiate season kicks off Saturday with the first collegiate road race weekend of the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) spring race season on the Busch and Livingston campuses of Rutgers University and Johnson Park in Piscataway, New Jersey.

The weekend will draw collegiate cycling teams from over fifty colleges and universities in the Northeast to the New Brunswick area. An estimated three hundred and fifty racers will compete in three events over two days, each racing for points to qualify their respective teams for the collegiate national championships to be held in Kansas in May.

The racing begins on the morning of Saturday, March 5 with an individual time trial at Johnson Park in Piscataway, New Jersey. Racers will test their fitness in an individual race against the clock over the 4.5 mile course.

Following the time trial on Saturday morning, racing will move in the afternoon to the Busch campus of Rutgers University where racers will compete in a criterium, a race over a short course emphasising technical skill and explosive power, taking place by Rutgers Stadium.

On Sunday morning, racing resumes with the circuit race on the Livingston campus of Rutgers University. Racers will test their endurance as they complete laps on this 2.2 mile course with technical corners, long climbs, and killer headwinds.