Fast-paced action is about to hit Ray Dennison Memorial Field, and it isn’t John L. Smith’s up-tempo football offense.
Fort Lewis College will host the Durango performance Center 4 Corners Cyclocross Series bike races beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday at Dennison Memorial, the Skyhawks’ home football field.
The event also will serve as the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference cyclocross championships.
Collegiate women will open the event at 11 a.m., followed by open women, men’s B-category and 50-and-over men.
At noon, collegiate men, open men and men 35-and-over will take to the course, which reaches 2 miles, including 300 meters on the track and long stretches of grass and side-hill/off-camber turns, a press release from FLC cycling director Dave Hagen said.
For the collegiate riders, a seat in the USA Cycling Collegiate Cyclocross National Championships is on the line. This year’s national championship will be Jan. 7-11 in Austin, Texas. The Skyhawks have finished second in the nation in cyclocross three consecutive seasons.
Hagen said the FLC team is looking for redemption after finishing third in October’s Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals in North Carolina.
Sofia Gomez Villafane leads the FLC women’s side. She finished second at the cyclocross nationals a year ago in Boulder.
A stable of men’s riders also will compete.
“The Skyhawk men’s top finishers from last year, Cody Cupp, Skyler Trujillo and Kolben Preble, have been training hard this season to improve on their (sixth-, seven- and eighth-) place finishes that showed great depth,” Hagen said in the news release. He said freshman Ian McPhearson also will help the team.
Several other local riders have competed in the series since November and will see the series culminate with this final event. Hagen said many of them also will make the trip to nationals in Texas.
Snow is in the forecast, which could make for a slippery course that will be great for fans.
“Cyclocross and the Fort Lewis College venue are great for spectators, so come on up and squawk for your Skyhawks,” Hagen said.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
