Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) won the elite women’s division of 2025 Stetina’s Paydirt on Saturday, unseating two-time champion Heather Jackson, while 22-year-old Justin Peck defended his men’s division title with a late pass of Lachlan Morton (EF Education-Easypost).
Shimano sponsored the Women’s Paydirt Challenge, providing a $10,000 prize purse exclusively for the elite women’s field, which event founder Peter Stetina said was one way he could put women on “center stage”.
“As a pro male, I have a unique position to leverage my connections and my audience to promote my female colleagues. I think we had our strongest women’s field ever this year,” he told Cyclingnews.
“It’s just my way of creating true parity in gravel. You know, gravel is the equal discipline, but honestly, the men have always kind of been the main focus. With the big prize, and most of our media focuses on them, the women are the stars of the show.”
The event continued as a showcase for climbing as well as rewarding technical skills on rugged roads in Nevada’s Pine Nut Mountain range near Carson City, east of Lake Tahoe in California. There are three timed segments on the long course used to tabulate an overall tally across the 69-mile (111.3km) course with 4,900 feet (1,500 metres) of elevation gain.
Onweller was dominant from the start and put in three minutes to Jackson on the opening segment, the longest at 18 miles. Once across the top of the climb, the bronze medal finisher from 2024 Unbound Gravel 200 powered through strong headwinds on the downhill to carve out the bulk of her lead.
Jackson matched pedal strokes with Onweller on the second segment and only lost one second. However, the defending women’s champion could not make any dents with the time gap on the final segment, a climb from Jacks Valley Road and smooth single-track on Clear Creek Trail, Onweller taking another 38 seconds to secure the victory.
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
In April at the Sea Otter Classic Gravel, Peck finished fourth overall among the U23 Life Time Grand Prix field and later that month won the fourth round of the Grasshopper Adventure Series, Ukiah Mendo Gravel Epic. The University of California-Berkley senior carried his form into another part of his home state this time, going back and forth with Unbound winner Morton, who was third at Paydirt last year.
Morton won the first segment for the elite men, closing a big gap he created when he was late for the mass start, having been busy serving samples of his instant coffee. He was able to close a gap to Peck and Wiebe and put in 10 seconds to Peck and 29 seconds to Wiebe. Peck countered with a 39-second advantage on the second segment.
On the third segment, Morton overshot a corner with his bike falling down an embankment while the Australian made an acrobatic move to remain on his feet. Having to climb down to recover his bike and continue the ride, Morton’s delay of nearly a minute gave Peck the advantage he needed to lock up back-to-back wins.
Separate divisions for junior riders were introduced and more than 50 young men and women took advantage of free registration to compete against the elite fields.
“We had 50 juniors in a dedicated field. They raced for free in their category, I put up cash for them, and had a podium with sparkling cider. We gave them a space where they were welcome and supported, and we had a massive turnout,” Stetina said.
“It was a great day on two wheels. Timed segments foster a unique atmosphere, and one time a year it is really fun. It brings a whole new dynamic to the race tactics.”
Image 1 of 7
Event founder Peter Stetina introduces the elite women’s field (Image credit: Wil Matthews)
Paige Onweller was aggressive on technical descents to give her the edge on overall time segments ahead of defending champion Heather Jackson(Image credit: Wil Matthews)
Elite men’s podium (L to R) with second-placed Lachlan Morton, winner Justin Peck and third-placed Matthew Wiebe(Image credit: Wil Matthews)
22-year-old Justin Peck uses his mountain bike skills to win 2025 Stetina’s Paydirt(Image credit: Linda Guerrette)
For a second time, Lachlan Morton finished runner-up in the elite men’s field at Stetina’s Paydirt(Image credit: Linda Guerrette)
Mass start was spread out once riders began to climb in the Sierra mountains south of Carson City, Nevada(Image credit: Wil Matthews)
Lachlan Morton hands out samples(Image credit: Wil Matthews)
