The MAC Cyclocross Series opens its 2008 campaign this weekend with a pair of established races that are new to the MAC.  The season kicks-off in the cycling hotbed of Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania with the Nittany Lion Cyclocross at Penn State University’s Fogelsville Campus on Saturday September 20.  The UCI C-2 event features over $4,000 in prize money.  Even though two other UCI races are being held in America that day, the Nittany Lion Cyclocross, by virtue of its earlier Eastern Time Zone, is laying claim as the first American UCI cyclocross race of the 2008-2009 season.

The following day, Sunday September 21, the series heads south to Baltimore Maryland for the Charm City Cyclocross.  This race has a reputation for breaking attendance records, and that reputation looks to continue in its first year as part of the MAC Series as the event stopped accepting entries for the Category 4 Men’s division earlier this week after reaching the maximum of 100 entries nearly a week prior to the event.  Several other classes also look likely to reach their maximum entry before pre-registration closes on September 19.   

The Charm City Cyclocross is the home race of the C3-Sollay.com cyclocross team, and it will also be the cyclocross debut of C3-Sollay.com’s newest superstar, road sprinting star Laura Van Gilder.  A fixture on the criterium cirucuits, Van Gilder will “do it in the dirt” for the first time and will use her formidable speed to try to take an early lead in the Elite Women’s race.

Prospective competitors are urged to pre-register for both races at BikeReg.com – before it’s too late.