The Illinois Cycling Association has secured Oak Brook as a location for our Aug. 23 state road race championships. The 3.1-mile course, shown above, will start on York Road, head northwest up Spring Road, then east on 31st Street back to York.

“Spring Road will provide much of the action,” ICA vice president Steve Hansen (North Branch) says, “with two fairly good hills that make this course worthy of a good road race.”

Two lanes of 31st Street will be closed, and York Road and Spring Road will receive partial road closures. Officials will enforce the centerline rule.

A tentative schedule has races going off in five groups starting at 8:30 a.m. and into the late afternoon. Distances include 80 miles for P/1/2/3 men, 64 miles for P/1/2/3 women and 48 miles for Cat 3 men. There will also be races for Cat 4 men and women, masters and juniors.

The course is short but satisfies USA Cycling’s 5-kilometer minimum for a road race. Milan-San Remo it’s not, but at least it’s close. No four-hour drives, no overnight stays in downstate hotels.

And at least it is. We ought to congratulate and thank Hansen and the ICA for the work they’ve done to make sure we have a state championship this year following the dissolution of the Proctor Road Race and the Al Stern Road Race before that.