EDWARDSVILLE - Timothy Smith of St. Louis pulled off an upset in the featured Men's Category 1/2/3 race by defeating Houston's Lucas Bourgoyne to climax the 15th running of the Edwardsville Rotary Criterium Festival, presented by BuseyBank, Saturday night, Aug. 16, 2025, in downtown Edwardsville.
The weather was sunny and hot throughout the day, cooling down a bit as the sun went down. Still, a big crowd turned out for the annual end-of-summer festival, which featured a kids zone, presented by Revity Credit Union, food and beverage areas, with live bands playing throughout the day and night, and the traditional kids races, also known as The Greatest Race In The World, and presented by the Edwardsville huddle of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Edwardsville Wrestling Club, as part of the festivities. The kids' races took place in the middle of the festival, along the course in downtown Edwardsville.
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In addition, restaurants and bars were open during the festival, serving food and drinks to fans on the very warm day in Downtown Edwardsville.
In the opening competitive races, Everett Guliford won the Juniors 9-12 race, with Gracie Kelley of St. Louis coming in second, and Dexter Hoffmann placing third. William Couch of East Amherst, N.Y., was the winner of the Juniors 13-14 race, with Elliott Hoffman finishing second, and Elias Johnson of Golden, Colo., edged out Emily Hagedorn of Edwardsville to take the Junior 17-18 division. The junior races were presented by the Slosar family.
In the Women's Category 4/5 race, presented by World Wide Technology, the winner was Brenda Bylaitis of Westmont, Ill., who won over Amanda Couch, while in the Men's Category 5 race, Ian Maue of Collinsville won over Owen Robinson of Reno, Nev., with third place going to Will Whitaker. In the Women's Category 3/4 race, presented by the Slosar family, Cora Trout of University City, Mo., was the winner, with Taylor Belobrajdic of Maplewood, Mo. second, and Anna Affias of Homewood, Ill., in third. The Women's Masters age 40-49 competition, also presented by the Slosar family, saw Brianne Guliford of Edwardsville come out on top, with Heather Hill of Eureka, Mo. in second, and Bylaitis finishing third.
In the Men's Category 4/5 race, Max McDade of Webster Groves, Mo. was the winner, with Kenneth Townsend IV of Columbia, Mo., finishing second, and Grant Vogel of Kirkwood, Mo., ending up in third, while in the Men's Masters 40-49 division, presented by West and Company LLC, Michael Lanyon of Chicago won the race, with Robert White of Cedarburg, Wisc. coming in second, and third place went to Jonathan Jacob of Indianapolis. In the 50-59 Masters race, also presented by West and Company, Chris Harre of Webster Groves was the winner, with second place going to Dan Gluck of St. Charles, Mo., and Chicago's Sabin West taking third place. In the 60-and-over race, the winner was Gary Dyer of Alton, with Bernd Faust of O'Fallon, Mo. in second, and Steve Feehery of Homewood coming in third.
In the Men's Category 3/4 race, presented by the Phillips 66 Wood River refinery, Kenneth Townsend of Columbia, Mo., was the winner, with second place going to Lucas Graham of Clayton, Mo., and third place went to Owen Reaney of Indianapolis. The women's feature race, the Pro/Open, presented by The Gori Law Firm, was won by Abby Krawczyk of Webster Groves, with Simone Hussussian of Chicago coming in second, and Ashley Fratinardo of Wichita Falls, Tex., finishing third. Finally, in the men's feature race, the Category 1/2/3, presented by Anderson Hospital, Smith upset Bourgoyne to take the win, with third place going to Brandon Feehery of Homewood.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
