(Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The biggest cyclocross races in the world happen this weekend at the Walmart Cyclocross World Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Among the 100s of elite athletes that will compete for the coveted rainbow jersey are local phenoms Clara Honsinger and Felipe Nystrom.
Honsinger has had a meteoric rise to the top of the ‘cross world and is the two-time U.S. National Champion and top World Cup contender. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the story about her in Thursday’s edition of The Oregonian.
Honsinger is a former member of Sellwood Cycle Repair’s Team S & M and her friends at the shop have planned a viewing party. They’ll have the big screen ready for the start at 12:20 pm Saturday.
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While Honsinger will be one of the favorites at her race on Saturday, Felipe Nystrom will just be happy to finish when he toes the line Sunday. Nystrom came to Portland from Costa Rica and is the only Latin American athlete in the entire UCI Cyclocross field. Since focusing on ‘cross he’s become a crowd favorite due to his challenging background and infectious smile. If you listened to Nystrom’s story on our podcast last month you’ll know this weekend’s event is something he’s been looking forward to for a very long time.
We are so excited wonderful humans and their amazing accomplishments will represent Portland on the world stage.
Stay tuned for photos from the event thanks to our roving photographer Mark Boling.
Go Clara! Go Felipe!
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I’ll be cheering for both of them, but they’re not competing for the stars and stripes in a world championship!
oh gosh that’s an embarrassing mistake. will change it right now. Rainbow!
I’ve ridden with Felipe and he’s a super nice guy. I’ll be cheering both of them!
It was super cool to watch a couple Portland locals race on the world stage.