John Wilson
We have completed the first two rounds of the 2011 Oregon Junior & High
School Cyclocross Series. We had 60 racers at our first event Hood River
Double Cross, and 65 racers at last Saturday's Bend CrossAflixion. The
CrossAflixion being the first High School event. We had 7 High School teams
trying to take out the first team win of the season. We had 9 High School
Women racing, and 35 High School Men. A great turn out but let me tell you
the points are almost up for grabs in the Women's field. The High School
team event is equal points for Men and Women. Get the High School girls some
bikes Oregon! Results are posted on the web:
http://www.obra.org/junior_cyclocross_series/results.html
We have given away 100 Hammer Nutrition goodie bags so far with more to
come. I just picked up a sweet set of Rolf Prima wheels that some lucky
Junior will take home. Castelli is manufacturing our JCS and HS Team
champion jerseys as we speak. I just got off the phone with Redline nailing
down all the great bikes, and merchandise they will be sending our way for
the series. Erik Tonkin at Sellwood Cycle Repair has set aside another Kona
Jake for the series, and last but not least, Rapha is working up another
special award for the winning High School team. Wow. Tons of SWAG up for
grabs.
Many of the same faces are showing similar form as last year: Colin Dunlap,
Sam Rosenberg, Jett Ballantyne, Taylor Tyynismaa, and Haley Wilson are
showing their familiar winning ways. There are also some emerging talent
moving up the ranks. The Hart Sisters are looking very strong, Cameron Bead
really impressed me at Hood River. Naiqwan Pellman seems to be transferring
his track racing form over to CX quite well. He and Javier Colton look to
have a serious rivalry starting up. There are so many great stories, great
kids and great racing. It is going to be fun to watch the series battles
play out.
In the High School team competition High Cascades was out in force with a
super strong Men's team but they could not best the Women of Corvallis
United who nailed the first team win of the season. This competition was
very close last year and looks like it will be a close one this year. The
top four teams after one round: Corvallis United, High Cascade of Bend, Mud
Warriors of Portland, Hood River Valley, are only separated by 10 points.
Look for this competition to come down to the final race for sure.
I wanted to announce a rule change for the Junior Series. After several
requests I am agreeing to let JCS racers throw out one of the first 6 races
in the series. The seventh race will count no matter what. So instead of
being a best 7 out of 7 series, it is now the best 6 out of 7 with the
seventh race not optional. The spirit of the original rule was twofold. One
I wanted to reward the racer who made it to every race. Second I wanted to
make the series results calculation done real time on the last day easier.
It was a little stressful last year trying to crank out the results with
everyone waiting around. Upon further reflection it just seemed fairer to
let folks toss out one race. Bad luck, life commitments, etc, can make it
hard to finish every race. So if you missed one of the first two races don't
sweat it.
OK, that is about it for this series report. The next race is at Heiser
farms http://www.buylocalcycling.com/HeiserFarms2011/ This is both a JCS
and HS race. The venue is a great family location with many activities for
everyone besides watching some great racing action. Check out the link to
Heiser Farms: http://www.heiserfarms.com/ Eric Vickers and crew will be
hosting a great event. I look forward to seeing you there.
Here are the links for some video action from the first two races:
Hood River: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eQGfcYWAa8
CrossAflixion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIwKbw4dxxo
Finally for all the parents out there helping out with their kids, the
teams, and even me (registration help, etc): Don't forget that I will be
saving some SWAG for you guys too. Thanks for the support!
John Wilson
Oregon Junior & High School Cyclocross Series Director