Loughborough University Campus Criteriums
Location: Loughborough University, Loughborough
Event: 28 April 2012
The third year of this unique and technical race based on the Loughborough University campus sees it opening up to all British Cycling riders and British University & Colleges Sport (BUCS) students, with a National B race open to E/1/2/3 riders and a Regional B race open to 3/4/W riders.
A further National B race will be held for British University & Colleges Sport Students. The course navigates through the university campus which is both draped in history and sporting excellence.
The race starts and finishes at the iconic Rigg-Rutt fountain, which usually sees 60+ riders meeting for the weekly student club ride. A short straight leads the riders into the first technical section – a sweeping left then right section weaving between the National Cricket centre and the impressive new Business School. Immediately following these corners is a 300m long climb past the hockey centre and wavy top lecture hall. Here is the place of many race winning attacks and sore legs to match. Taking a left turn at the top to crest the climb, you immediately start to descend along a short straight and enter the most challenging series of corners on the course.
A 90° left turn shaded by Elm trees quickly followed by a 90 degree right turn to run parallel to the facilities management centre demands great attention and excellent bike handling skills to maintain speed and even separate yourself from other riders.
This leads into a fast sweeping left hand corner to enter a downhill straight section, with the closeness of the buildings giving a heightened sense of speed. At the end of this straight, where speeds of over 35mph can be seen, a sweeping left followed by a right turn that drops away is taken to head towards the landmark Towers accommodation block and the Sports Development Centre. A deceptively tight left turn at the sports hall takes the riders onto the final drag between the state-of-the-art rubber crumb pitch and the rugby and cricket grounds, and up to the final left hand corner at the campus entrance, with less than 150 m to sprint to the line.
It is guaranteed that this tough 1.6 km circuit will allow the strong and the technically adept to battle for the glory. With the first half of the circuit well sheltered, the infamous Loughborough wind will ripple through the riders’ jerseys coming along the open final section of this course, providing a mixture of fast and technical riding with pure grit. The barrier-lined finish-straight coupled with a historic atmosphere and volumeness crowd set to make this one of the most exciting and challenging bike races on the UK calendar.
New for 2012 is the additional race for British University & Colleges Sport (BUCS) Students.
Further information about the event can be found at www.lsu-cycling.co.uk/criterium. Entries are still required for all three races - enter online using the British Cycling Online Entry.
