August 20, 2007

The History of Eugene's Running Trails

Story and photos by Rita Radostitz.

Long before Steve Prefontaine thrilled track fans at Hayward Field with his majestic running style, Eugene was a place for runners, especially distance runners. The University of Oregon had a successful track team, and under the guidance of coach Bill Bowerman, Oregon won four NCAA outdoor championships between 1962 and 1970. Bowerman was known not only for his innovative coaching style — and later as one of the founders of Nike — but for his commitment to bringing running to the masses. His book Jogging (coauthored with cardiologist Waldo Harris) was published in 1967 and is seen by many as the beginning of the running craze that is a deep-rooted part of the City of Eugene's identity. In "Track Town U.S.A." runners have always found places to run beyond the city streets.

"Back before there was bark on it, I used to run along what is now Pre's trail" says longtime Eugene runner Jim Jaqua. "There was a path along the river that went back by Autzen Stadium. We ran there all the time." When Pre came along, he too ran on what some called the "goat trails" and also on the paved bike paths along the river. But after spending time running on the wood-chip trails in Europe, Pre began to advocate for putting a similar trail in Eugene.

Pre's Dream Trail

Pre envisioned it as more of a fitness club, the Decathlon Club, with a nearby wood chip trail just one of the amenities. It would have a trail with a "par course" along it where runners could stop and do pull ups or sit ups. Pre imagined a place where all kinds of athletes could hang out, not just runners. But despite his tenacious lobbying, the City Parks Advisory Committee never approved the plan — at least not in his lifetime. The day after his death, however, plans for a wood chip trail in Alton Baker Park were approved, and what had been Pre's dream of a one mile loop of soft wood chips was expanded to include more than four miles of undulating bark.

With the help of Bowerman, Olympian Wade Bell, the Oregon Track Club, and many of Pre's friends, Lane County got the work done in just a few months. Bell laid out the route of the trail, and convinced a local lumber company to donate the "hog fuel" — which they'd previously just discarded — to use as the wood-chip cover. The first race on Pre's Trail was held on Labor Day, 1975 with about 500 participants. Mike Manley, the 1974 Olympic Trials steeplechase champion, says he was the first to run on the trail. "I ran a few steps and folks started clapping." With a twinkle in his eye, he says, "I clapped back at them."

Many champions — Olympic, World, NCAA — have run on Pre's Trail: Mary Slaney, Alberto Salazar, Kenny Moore, Maria Mutola, Marla Runyan, Nick Symmonds and other elite athletes have used the soft surface of the trail to cushion the blow of many miles. But even the everyday runner, the mom with a baby jogger, the 12-minute miler, the middle school sprinter, appreciate the Trail — and it's history.

In recent years, Geoff Hughes has been the force behind the maintenance of the trail. Hughes and other volunteers from the Oregon Track Club (OTC) faithfully maintain the surface, spreading new bark and trimming back the ubiquitous blackberries. Over the past year, Hughes and the OTC have completely overhauled the trail — scraping away the old bark, widening the path, adding layers of gravel and sand and topping it with wood chips. Hughes says that the "work we've done will last for a good long time." Although Pre never ran on the trail created in his honor, his legacy is palpable there, among the trees and wood chips.

Other Wood-Chip Running Trails

Pre's Trail is not the only wood-chip trail in Eugene. Its phenomenal popularity spurred the city to look at other places where a similar trail could work. In 1983, plans were drawn up for a mixed use trail near Amazon Park. Originally, according to OTC member Jack Anderson, the plan was for a trail system where half would be dedicated to running and the other half to mountain biking. "But (SportHill founder) Jimmy Hill was involved in the planning and he just made it all for running." Apparently the mountain bikers didn't protest and so the wood-chip trails were built with only runners in mind.

Dedicated as the Adidas Amazon Trail on September 25, 1983, the trail is one mile long, with a 1500 meter cut off and an inner loop of 1000 meters. The inner loop is lighted and marked every 100 meters. This makes the trail very popular in the late fall and winter months.

Just south of — and connected by a bike path too — the Adidas Amazon Trail is the Rexius Trail, a 3.5 mile loop of cedar chips. This flat trail runs along both sides of Amazon Creek. According to Hughes, it used to be an animal trail that individual runners just "sort of took over." Sometime after the Amazon Trail was completed, Marv Rexius decided that they should widen and add bark to the trail, and he — and Rexius Forest Products — have maintained the trail ever since. At the southernmost end of the trail, a steep climb up some residential streets connects the Rexius trail with other dirt trails in the south hills.

Other Places to Run

Eugene enjoys more than 30 miles of off-street bike paths. The Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail System runs along the Willamette River and the Fern Ridge Bike Path heads west of the city along the wetlands. These paths provide nice smooth and flat surfaces for running.

For more of a challenge, the Ridgeline Trail is a dirt trail which snakes around Spencer's Butte and ripples up and down for 14 miles in South Eugene.

An urban gem with a beautiful rhododendron garden, Hendricks Park sits above the University of Oregon campus and contains miles of dirt and bark trails tucked among tall old growth trees — and poison oak (so be careful)!