When USA Cycling announced that the 2003 and ’04 cyclo-cross nationals would be hosted by the popular Cross Crusade series in Portland, Oregon, images of epic mud-spattered battles immediately sprang to mind. Last year’s championship weekend did nothing to sway that image, as continuous rains turned the course around the Portland International Raceway into a thick, soupy mess.

One look at the forecast for the upcoming weekend shows that things will be much the same this year. With rain expected from Friday through Sunday night, by the time the elite men take the course at 3 p.m. on Sunday, the course should be drenched and well trodden.

This year, Cross Crusade organizers have moved parts of the course to the raceway’s infield paddock area, providing better spectator viewing. In a piece in today’s Oregonian, Cross Crusade race director Brad Ross explains, "The other course was a good course, but it was really flat. This time, there are multiple sections that are serious running-up sections.”

The course was intended to be relatively fast, if dry, according to the description on the Cross Crusade Web site:

“Start on a long paved straight away. Transition with a right-hand turn to a gravel/hardpack road. Flat and fast into the first section of turf with a couple of turns. Back on the hardpack until you enter the motocross track for a run-up. Next is a quick descent and transition to hardpack road. Fast corners lead to the next section of the dirt motocross track. Back onto double-track service road to next turf section. Small rolling hills and off-camber sections, with many turns. Transition back to pavement for short respite. Back onto turf for more small rollers (pit on right here). More turf and double–track, with several turns, leading to another small section of pavement. Pavement gives way to turf again for another small out-and-back section of rollers and off-camber sections. Back to pavement, then a sharp right-hand turn back onto the turf. Several turns on turf lead to the second entrance to the pit. After the pit, another right-hand turn puts you on the paved finishing straight. Rinse and repeat.”

Got all that? Good. Now go back and replace the word “fast” with “mud bog” and you’ve got an idea what the racers will be facing.

Last year, Jonathan Page decimated the elite men’s field, winning by more than a minute over 2001 champion Todd Wells. In 2002, he did the same thing in the mud of Napa, California, taking off early and putting 20 seconds on the chase by the third of 11 laps to finish a minute up on Wells.

Page, 28, is the only elite American who makes a full-time career out of cyclo-cross racing, spending the ’cross season competing in European World Cup and Superprestige events. With his career-best results this year – a handful of top-15 placings against the best in the world – Page is the odds-on man to beat.

The two-time national champion’s challengers include riders like Ryan Trebon (Kona) who spent his 2004 season working his way to the top of the Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross Series to earn a nomination to the U.S. world cyclo-cross championships team.

Mark McCormack (Clif Bar-Colavita Olive Oil), the 2003 USPRO champion and 1997 ’cross national champ, has also had a comeback season and leads Americans in the UCI rankings ahead of Trebon and Page. Other contenders include Adam Craig (Maxxis-Giant), the former junior, collegiate and U23 ’cross national champion; Travis Brown (Trek-VW); 1999 national champ Marc Gullickson (Redline); and Wells (GT-Hyundai).

On his Web site, www.toddwells.net, Wells predicted: “This is shaping up to be one of the most exciting nationals for U23, elite and women. With everyone riding really well it should be a great weekend to watch.”

But just last month, McCormack made his own prediction about nationals: “Jonathan will most likely be 20 percent better than everyone else, but it should be an exciting race for second place. He’s just racing so much better than he ever has. Nothing’s guaranteed, he could have a crash or an inopportune flat tire, but he’s got to be the favorite by a sizable margin.”

In years past the same could be said about six-time national champion Alison Dunlap. But with Dunlap opting out of racing ’cross this season, 2002 national champ Ann Knapp (Kona) has been the queen of the scene, winning five of the six Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross Series events, beaten only once on an off-day in Tacoma.

In Tacoma Knapp finished seventh, more than a minute down, beaten by Gina Hall (Missing Link), the runner-up in the USGP series and one of Knapp’s likeliest rivals for the stars-and-stripes jersey. Hall is coming off a successful weekend, having just swept the final West Coast UCI races in the Bay Area Super Prestige Series doubleheader.

Olympic mountain biker Mary McConneloug (Seven Cycles) didn’t decide to race ’cross this year until after the USGP series had begun, but still managed to finish second to Knapp in the last three events, finishing fourth overall behind consistent Northwest ’cross mainstay Rhonda Mazza (Vanilla-S&M). An on-form McConneloug could walk away with a national champion’s jersey to match her 2003 national cross-country champion’s jersey.

The dark horse of the elite women’s race could be Coloradan Katie Compton (Fuji-Pro Cycling), also a member of a Paralympic tandem team. The 26-year-old Compton has stunned competitors at the Colorado races, beating cross-country racer Gretchen Reeves (Rocky Mountain-Business Objects) by more than a minute at one event and consistently placing in the top 10 of the men’s Cat. 3 events, despite starting at the back of the field.

The men’s under-23 competition is poised to be a three-way match-up between Jesse Anthony (Cyclocrossworld.com), the four-time junior national champion and reigning U23 national champ; Matt White (NCC-BikeReg.com), runner-up to Anthony in the USGP series; and 21-year-old Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly), who has spent the 2004 season racing the U23 World Cup and Superprestige events. If the past is any indication, it’s worth noting that Anthony has not lost at nationals in his past five attempts.

Racing kicked off at the Portland International Raceway on Friday morning with the collegiate women’s competition and culminates Sunday afternoon with the elite men’s and women’s races. A complete race schedule for elite, masters, juniors, collegiate, and U23 racing can be found at www.usacycling.org.

Following the conclusion of the national championships, nominations will be made to the U.S. team for the world cyclo-cross championships, to be held in St. Wendel, Germany, in February 2005.