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FLC Cycling holds Squawker Classic April 23 & 24
The Fort Lewis College Cycling Team will hold its annual Squawker Classic road racing events Saturday April 23rd and Sunday the 24th. Collegiate cyclists from the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cycling Conference (RMCCC) will descend upon Durango for one of the toughest weekends of racing before USA Cycling Collegiate Road Nationals in Asheville, NC May 13-15.
It is the 6th RMCCC conference race weekend of the spring season offering up a Team Time Trial, Criterium and a Road Circuit race for Division I archrivals University of Colorado-Boulder, Colorado State University and Colorado Mesa University. For the 4-Corners region there are also USA Cycling categories for the Individual Time Trial, Criterium and Road Circuit race.
The action will begin 8am Saturday morning April 23rd with the “Morehart Murphy Team Time Trial.” Four-person collegiate teams and individual racers will start the intersection of River Road and CR 213 (La Posta) at one-minute intervals, turning around 13 miles later in Bondad just before Highway 550 and returning back up to CR 214 for a 32 kilometer (19 mile) course. The USA Cycling category Individual Time Trial starts at 9am and uses the same course.
The “Durango Performance Center Criterium” is back to it’s traditional neighborhood venue that encompasses 4th-6th Aves and 7th-10th Sts. The start finish will be at 4th Ave/9th St on a course with 6 turns and highlighted by the 6th Ave hill. Five collegiate and four citizen categories will speed around the course for varying amounts of time based on experience and ability. The action will be fast and fun! Racing finishes at 6pm.
Racing concludes on Sunday April 24 with the grueling “Carver Brewing Co. Road Race,” starting at 8:00am on Rim Drive in front of the Education Business Hall. Travelling clockwise on Rim Dr. the course turns left on North Rim Drive (CR239) passing Hillcrest Golf Course then right on North College, through the roundabout, down Goeglein Gulch Road (CR238) and right on East 8th Avenue back to Rim Drive, completing the super tough 5-mile circuit. The amount of laps will be based on category ranging from 3-9 laps.
To stay updated and keep up with the race day action, http://cycling.fortlewis.edu will have all the info, course maps and the flyer You can also keep up with the action on the team Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FLCCyclingTeam.
Come watch your Skyhawk cyclists in action against our conference foes. The RMCCC conference schedule, results and standings can be found at http://www.rmccc.org/ and info on collegiate cycling is here: https://usacycling.org/college.
Volunteers will gladly be accepted - 40+ are needed for course marshals.
Traffic Information:
For the Time Trial on Saturday from 8-10am there may be short delays on CR 213 to allow riders to start and turnaround please use caution if travelling that direction.
For the Criterium on Saturday from 11am-6pm East 4th Ave and East 5th Ave will be closed between 7th and 10th Streets and East 6th Ave will be closed between 9th and 10th Streets. Accordingly, 7th and 8th Streets will be closed between 4th and 5th Aves and 9th and 10th Streets will be closed between 4th and 6th Aves. There will be no parking on the course and any vehicles on the inside of the course will need to exit at 5th Ave/10th St.
For the Road Race on Sunday to ensure a safe event for participants the following roads will be CLOSED to vehicles from 8am to 4pm:
- Southbound Goeglein Gulch between the Ft. Lewis Dr. roundabout and 8th Ave.
- 8th Ave. between College Dr. and the Rim Dr. traffic signal
- Rim Drive between stoplight and Education Business Hall parking lot
- N. Rim Dr. (CR239) from N. College to Hillcrest Golf Course both directions, except resident access
Residents and businesses of Skyridge, Hillcrest, Hillcrest Estates, Hillcrest Apartments, Silver Peak Condos, Hillcrest golfers and Fort Lewis College students, faculty and staff please take note: The only way off the mesa is via North College to Florida Rd. and the best way up is Goeglein Gulch.
Also, drivers that use N. College and Goeglein to access South Durango should use Florida Rd. to avoid getting turned around at the roundabout.