12:51 p.m., March 16, 2009----The University of Delaware Cycling Team will hold its first collegiate cycling race, the Blue Hen Dual State Showdown, on Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22, in Newark and nearby Maryland.

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The races will feature some of the best young cyclists from across the northeast, who will be challenged by technical and hilly terrain in three grueling events - a 17-mile road race, an individual time trial and a high-speed criterium race.

Saturday's road race will feature an 18-mile loop with more advanced cyclists completing up the four laps. The race will begin at 8 a.m. and end around 2 p.m., with the start-finish line on Barksdale Road at the W. L. Gore & Associates facility. Cyclists will head away from Newark into Maryland and return via Route 273 and Casho Mill Road.

Sunday's individual time trial will begin at 8 a.m. and end about 11 a.m., with the same start-finish as Saturday's road race. Individual racers will set out at 30-second intervals around a 6.3-mile loop.

Sunday's criterium will begin at 11:30 a.m. and end about 5 p.m., with the start-finish line at UD's Laird Campus, just northeast of Christiana Towers and George Read Hall. The course will be ideal for spectators, as it will loop George Read Hall and parts of the parking areas on the Laird Campus with cyclists moving at high speeds.

Several Newark businesses are supporting the UD Cycling Team, including Kildare's, Super 8 Motel, Bike Line, Café Gelato and Gamble's Newark Florist.