Jacoby Babcock spent his first season in mountain biking’s professional ranks proving he belonged there.
The 16-year-old Philomath High School junior finished third overall in the U21 Pro Men division of the 2026 Cascadia Dirt Cup, an enduro series run by Race Cascadia that draws riders from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia and California. Along the way, he won two races.
Enduro racing tests both legs and nerve. Riders pedal untimed climbs, then race the clock on a series of timed descents, with the lowest cumulative time taking the day. One bad run can wipe out an otherwise strong effort.
After skipping the May 9 opener, Babcock started his season with a fifth-place finish May 23 at Raging River, in the shadow of Washington’s Mount Si.
His first victory came June 27 in Yacolt Burn State Forest, where he edged Hunter Sparks of Tahoma MTB by 10.81 seconds over five timed stages. He won just one of those stages outright but stayed near the front on all of them, exactly the kind of consistency the format rewards.
He followed with a runner-up finish July 12 at Galbraith Mountain in Bellingham — a bonus round held as part of the Northwest Tune-Up festival — finishing 20.88 seconds behind Jeru Gidley. He then placed fifth July 25 at Tiger Mountain near Issaquah.
The season finale Sept. 19 at Post Canyon in Hood River brought his second win. Babcock covered the course in 21 minutes, 24.65 seconds, holding off Kye Bryan of the Panhandle Gravity Squad by 12.88 seconds. He posted the fastest time on three of the day’s timed segments.
The series counts each rider’s best four results out of six races. Babcock’s two wins, a second and a fifth added up to 720 points. That left him just 10 points behind Sparks for second and 20 behind Bryan, the series champion.
Not bad for a rookie season against the pros. And with several years of U21 eligibility still ahead of him, the Marys Bicycle Club rider may just be getting started.
2. Lava legacy
Some of the people most responsible for Philomath Elementary’s newest playground addition won’t get to use it, at least not as elementary students. That was the point.
The school celebrated the official opening of the Hot Lava Course Wednesday with a ribbon cutting attended by nearly 400 students, along with staff, families, community supporters and school board members.
True to its name, the addition is an obstacle course built for the classic game of not touching the ground. It includes stepping pods, balance lines, an overhead ladder and climbing loops, linked together in a ring beside the school’s existing play structures.
The project took 16 months to complete, funded through bake sales, a student art auction and a direct donation campaign.
Leading much of that effort was a student fundraising committee: Logan Cheeke, Brooklyn Taylor, Emmit Lewis, Reece Marcotte, Matilda Smith and Sierra Hahn. Now middle schoolers, the six returned to their old school for the ceremony and cut the ribbon after a countdown shouted by the hundreds of students gathered around them.
Principal Eric Beasley said the committee members knew from the start that they would likely move on before the course was finished. They took on the work anyway, he said, for the benefit of future Falcons, a lesson in how doing something for others can be a gift in itself.
A sign at the course recognizes its supporters: the Benton Community Foundation, Consumers Power, Gerding Builders, Maxtivity Creative Spaces, Weyerhaeuser, the Philomath PTO, Philomath Elementary staff, the school district’s facilities department, the Cheeke and Rockhold families, anonymous donors and the Philomath community at large.
School board members Tom Klipfel and Ryan Cheeke, who Beasley said were instrumental in supporting the campaign, were also on hand.
Beasley said the course “represents much more than a new place to play.”
“It is a visible reminder of what can happen when a community comes together around children — and when students learn that their actions can make a difference for people they may never meet,” he said.
3. Kibble kudos
Out West Farm and Ranch has spent the past several years quietly keeping some of Benton County’s hardest-working employees fed — the four-legged members of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Program.
The family-owned Philomath feed store has donated food for the sheriff’s office dogs for multiple years, and the BCSO recently returned the favor with a plaque recognizing that support. The plaque features photos of K-9s Manny and Brutus posed in front of American flags, flanked by a pair of sheriff’s office challenge coins.
“Your generous donations of food and commitment to our K-9 teams have helped make this program possible,” the plaque reads in part. “Community support like yours plays a vital role in helping serve and protect Benton County.”
Deputy Aaron Gevatosky and his K-9 partner were on hand outside the store for the presentation to co-owner Sterling Grant, who was joined by two of his grandsons — his oldest, Daegan, and his youngest, Buck.
“Those words mean more to our family than we can put into words,” the business shared on its Facebook page. “Being a family-owned store, giving back to the community that supports us is something we truly believe in.”
The store described its role as a small part in supporting the K-9s and the handlers who work with them every day.
Out West Farm and Ranch carries pet and livestock feed, fencing, tools, boots, toys and home decor. For Manny, Brutus and their handlers, though, it’s the feed that counts most.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
