Cascadia in Sports

At the request of a fellow Cascadian living in Virginia Beach, Va I have decided to look at how Cascadia has been utilized in sports. I also feel that since the only Cascadian NFL team sucked it up pretty horribly in the playoffs yesterday, losing to Green Bay, we could use a little sports bolstering. So lets begin:


There are a number of teams who use the Cascadian name but the oldest has to be the Cascadians' hiking and climbing club based in Yakima, Wa. The group was founded in 1920 with 104 members and has been the eastside equivalent of the Seattle-based Mountaineers by popularizing snowshoeing, tobogganing, and skiing for all the outdoor lovers on the eastern slopes. They are currently involved in numerous trail restoration projects throught the Pacific Northwest and play, "an important role in the designation of Forest Service Wilderness Areas".

Another Cascadian team is the Zabinski Racing-Team Cascadia. Although I believe the team ceased after 2001, it was the only West Coast based American LeMans sport racing team. The team was headed by 5 time champion Ed Zabinski and their best overall finish was 4th place in the Sebring competition in 1998.

While maybe not a traditional "sport" (but just as fierce!) is the World Crossword Puzzle Championships. Yes that's right, Cascadian brains teamed up to create a team for this hard fought competition. Their results are here. (If anyone has any ideas on how to make sense of these scores, let me know, thanks.)

There are also a few competitions named in honor of our great region. The most prominent is the Cascadia Cup. This is a season long competition between the three Cascadian First Division Soccer Clubs: the Portland Timbers, the Seattle Sounders, and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Started in 2004 it has been won twice by Vancouver and twice by Seattle (maybe next year Portland).

In 2007 another Cascadia Cup was established in Bellingham, Washington. The competition, hosted by local biking club, Worms, involved nine events and had a premier showing of 35 bikers. They intend to make this a yearly event.

And finally, what Cascadian sports summary could be complete without mentioning the wonderful Cascadian Bike Porn Tour. This group of Porn/Bike Enthusiasts rode from PDX to Van City showing the world the wonders of bicycle porn. Their slogan: "We Intend to Offend". Sigh, only in Cascadia I guess.

Well, unfortunately that about sums it up for Cascadia in the sports world. Perhaps in the future we can get some more teams named after our unqiue region. If you know of a team out there, pee-wee soccer to club water polo, please post a comment and let us know about our Cascadian warriors.