As the early morning sun cut through the fog that hung over Greenwood Furnace State Park, members of the Penn State Cycling Club and collegiate cyclists from across the northeast gathered for a 12-hour bicycling marathon.

Race director Jed Schober said about 120 riders were present at the event, which began early Saturday morning and continued until 7 p.m.

"As far as we know, this is the first ever 12-hour endurance race on a collegiate level," said club president Jordyn Drayton.

Schober said there were various cycling clubs in attendance, including many from the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC), the bicycling division to which Penn State belongs.

He said about 12 schools were represented, including Boston University, University of New Hampshire, Cornell University and West Virginia University (WVU). Each school could field multiple teams. The race was staged as a marathon, with teams of three and four handing off a marker at a transition point, after having completed a circuit of the six-mile long course.

According to Drayton, the fastest lap was about 50 minutes and average laps took between an hour and an hour and a half.

Dave Matlin (junior-mechanical engineering) said the course was challenging and added that the laps took longer than he anticipated.

"There were probably a good, solid two to two and a half miles of climbing," he said.

Teams were broken down into the category of men, women, co-ed and solo riding. Schober said there were about 20 teams and nine solo riders competing in the marathon.

Kandler Smith (graduate-mechanical engineering), the first place winner at the solo non-collegiate level, said he was motivated for the competition.

"[I wanted to] challenge myself, to see how well I could do and to get out with my friends," he said.

WVU team's placed first and third in the men's team category, while Penn State placed second, according to unofficial race results.

"We have a decent amount of experience with 24-hour racing so we knew what was going on," said Geffrey Moy, WVU cycling club president.

WVU team member John Martin said a 12-hour race at the collegiate level was part of the appeal, even though WVU is not in the ECCC.

"We specifically came up for this event, because it's so unique," he said.

Last week, the Penn State Cycling Club won the 2004 Penn State Lehigh Valley Collegiate National Track Cycling Championships at the Lehigh Valley campus, Matlin said.

"Penn State won the national championship of track cycling," he said. "So combined [with the marathon] it's been a good month."

Participants said they enjoyed the challenge.

"I loved the camaraderie with other teams," said Kristin Clark (sophomore-meteorology).

Brent Durand (junior-marketing) said he enjoyed interactions with other teams.

"I spent a whole lap going back and forth with a Lehigh team member," he said. "It's almost like you're on the same team at that point."

The Penn State Cycling Club also hosted events yesterday, including downhill racing and time trials.

Full results for the races were not available at press time.