If our juniors dipped their toes into wet cyclocross conditions two weeks ago at Heron Lakes, the fifth and penultimate round of the 2025 OBRA Junior Cyclocross Series (JCS) at Cyclocross Crusade: Cascade Locks this past Sunday was a proper muddy bath! Following a day of wind so severe to cause the cancellation of the last heat of racing, we were blessed with intermittent precipitation and only a hint of an occasional breeze during our races.
The racers braved corners consisting of standing water, slippery mud—and even slicker hidden rocks—the most sand of the year and the inevitable, fading braking power of worn pads such conditions engender. I got to see lots of muddy teeth courtesy of finish line grins, sure signs of a fun race!
Caleb Farley of Team Booger nabbed his fourth win out of five races in the Open 9-12 Category 3/4/5s, maxing out the number of points he can claim in the series and wrapping up the overall title with one race to go. Everett Hawes of Marys Bicycle Club placed second on the day, opening his overall lead to Ryan Kraemer Steigerwald, and Ryan also claimed third at Cascade Locks.
The Open 13-14 3/4/5 field saw Everett’s older brother Garett Hawes (Marys Bicycle Club) take his first win of the 2025 JCS, just two seconds ahead of Booger’s Dylan Glazer, with Logan Trost of Bicycle Attorney in third. Dylan leads Garett by just two points with one race to go! Bjorn Swanson of Team Finger took the overall lead for the Open 15-16 Category 3/4/5 competition with a win ahead of Andrew Chapin (Team Booger), and is also leading by just two points.
Vivi McManuis (Valkyr Cycling) continued her series dominance with her fourth straight win and has earned the overall title in the Junior Women 9-12 3/4/5 with the maximum possible point total. Phoebe Hogue of Team Booger placed second and moved into the same place for the series. They were accompanied by Grouptrail’s Lily Thayer-Osborne, who occupied the final step on the podium. The top two places in the 3/4/5 13-14 Junior Women’s race went to unaffiliated racers Isla Hundhausen and Gabby Linn, and Ada Souders (Team S&M) placed third and consolidated her series lead over Gabby.
Team Booger’s Maya Feldman-Wang took the 15-16 Women’s 3/4/5 victory and Taylor Ferdaszewski placed second to move into the series lead on behalf of Dialed Cycling. We did not have any representatives from the Open or Women’s 17-18 3/4/5 fields at this race, meaning that Oliver Woods (Planet PDX Cycling) can rest easy as the winner of the former and Kepri Sroka remains the leader of the latter.
The Junior 1/2/3 13-18 races saw two victories for Team Booger, with Johnie Hogue snagging his third win of the series in the Open category to cement his overall title, and Whitney Hayden moving into the lead in the Women’s field. Whitney was followed home by Addison Temple, and I’d like to give a shoutout to her team, Boise Young Rider Development Squad, for making the drive out from Idaho for the weekend!
As usual, our abundance of local photographers has resulted in lots of media! Chloë Spritz has a dedicated JCS album as well as a more comprehensive one for anybody interested in reviewing their own muddy escapades, and Jay Ortiz also captured loads of junior racing action in his recent post on Insta.
I can’t believe that next Sunday, November 2, is the final stop of the 2025 OBRA Junior Cyclocross Series! It will be the second day of another Cyclocross Crusade doubleheader weekend, this time at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale. I hope to see the highest turnout of the year! I haven’t had the opportunity to race this revamped classic course, but I’m told it has considerable climbing and some tricky off-cambers, and looking at this week’s forecast, I think we’re in for some serious mud!
I’d be remiss to not mention that Saturday’s race is also Costume Day! If you haven’t yet been to an OBRA Halloween race, the atmosphere is unmatched, and you’ll get to see seriously silly costumes.
A final reminder that our end-of-season awards party will be at noon on Sunday, November 23, at Steeplejack Brewing Company on NE Broadway, in collaboration with Cyclocross Crusade. I look forward to celebrating all of the hard work that our junior racers have put in over the past two months with all of you!
—Robin