Rutgers Cycling looks to extend its conference lead on home turf



New Brunswick, NJ -  The Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) leading Rutgers University Cycling Team looks forward to extending its lead this Sunday, November 12,  on home turf at HPCX in Jamesburg, NJ, round 5 of the Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross Championship Series.

Cyclocross, a discipline of cycling, originated in the early 1900s as a way of off-season training for road cyclists. Cyclocross races take the skills of road racing and test them on short, closed courses consisting of varying terrain from pavement to grass, sand, and mud. Contested in the late fall and early winter, the hallmark of cyclocross races is the dismount where riders face sections of the course that are unridable and must gracefully dismount, run, and remount their bicycles without losing momentum. Cyclocross is the fastest growing discipline of cycling in the US drawing upwards of 500 racers and thousands of spectators to events.

Sunday's race in Jamesburg, NJ at Thompson Park is part of the Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross Championship series and the ECCC Cyclocross series. In addition to the collegiate races, the event will feature professional, international cycling competition starting at 2 PM. Among the elite riders confirmed for Sunday is Christopher Horner, top ranked US cyclist who has competed in the Tour de France and won stages of the Tour of Romandie.

Rutgers has lead the ECCC Cyclocross Series in its inaugural season since its opening round at MAC #3 at Beacon in Bridgeton, NJ where the seven member strong team swept the Men's B category and took the lead over division I rivals UPenn. Last weekend, ECCC 'cross action moved north to Chainbiter 8.0 in Farmington, CT, part of the Verge NECCS series. There, Rutgers fought fierce competition from New England collegiate cycling powerhouses like UConn, Dartmouth, MIT, Tufts, and Harvard to win the division I team overall standing. Sunday, brought the team back to the Mid-Atlantic to race at Nittany Lion 'Cross on the Lehigh Valley campus of Penn State. Rutgers again brought out a massive team in what looked like a showdown between perennial collegiate cycling force Penn State and Rutgers in the collegiate men's category. UPenn rider Robert Sprague won the day, but Rutgers riders Mark Vareschi, Charles Florek, and Don Yungher rounded out 2nd through 4th place to deliver yet another win in the team overall competition.

Going into this weekend, Rutgers has an almost 80 point lead over division I rivals Harvard University. Sunday's race in Jamesburg, NJ will pit Rutgers against Ivy league riders from Princeton, Cornell, UPenn, and Columbia. Buoyed by the hometown advantage, Rutgers is poised to extend its lead this Sunday in its campaign to win the ECCC Cyclocross Series.

The Rutgers University Cycling Team is proudly sponsored by Efinger Sporting Goods, Pacific Health Labs, Inc., Maul Electric, Inc., Cycle-Smart: Solutions for Cycling, and Verge Sport.

The ECCC Cyclocross Series is a 10 round series of races run in conjunction with Verge NECCS and MAC races and select non-series events. The purpose of the series is to bring team-oriented collegiate racing to already established cyclocross races in order to support the future growth of the sport.


For more info:
www.eccc-info.com
www.rutgerscycling.com
www.rutgerscycling.blogspot.com

HPCX info:
http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=3786