The Amazon/Adidas/Rexius trails In 1975 recreation superintendent Dave Pompel was fielding requests for a jogging track in South Eugene. He approached landscape architect John Etter with an idea for Amazon Park and the two set out to make it happen. They consulted with UO track coach Bill Dellinger on the design of one mile and metric loops. The city was willing to provide money for bark chips but none for preparing the surface or laying down the track. Volunteer help was enlisted from members of the running community along with drug store owner John Hirons, who showed up with a tractor. Pompel and Etter worked weekends to coordinate trail construction despite the fact that, “We weren’t runners, we were cyclists,” says Pompel. The Amazon jogging trail proved immediately popular. In 1983 the Amazon track was refurbished under Recreation superintendent Ernie Drapela with funds provided by athletic apparel company Adidas. The path was officially rechristened the Adidas trail, giving that shoe company a public foothold in rival Nike’s birthplace. Jim Hill of local athletic wear company SportHill enlisted wood bark king Rexius Landscape Service to underwrite one more running trail in the 1990s, connecting Amazon Park to the Ridgeline Trail.
Pre’s Trail Returning from European competitions, Steve Prefontaine suggested to local officials that the area needed a dedicated running trail. After Prefontaine’ s death, Lane County worked with the Oregon Track Club and former UO coach Bill Bowerman to plan a bark chip path from Alton Baker Park eastward along the river. Pre’s Trail was built by youth work crews from Lane County and was completed in 1976. It is maintained today by the Oregon Track Club. 82
Running with Rudy Jane Holloway, then youth program supervisor at Westmoreland Community Center, was approached by an Oregon distance runner named Rudy, who wondered if there was a way he could volunteer with kids. And could he bring his friend, Alberto? Holloway set up a class called “Running with Rudy,” and local kids found themselves running the streets and training with big-time track legends Rudy Chapa (UO 1978-81) and Alberto Salazar (UO 1977-1981). Holloway had to fend off requests from adults to join the kids’ class.
Fools’ Run in the Rain Making the best of Eugene’s wet spring weather, Special Recreation director Pam Earle put together a community-wide event, the “Fools’ Run in the Rain,” held by the department on April 1 in the 1980s. Participants were soaked for registration fees that were then applied towards scholarships for low income patrons.
Hershey’s Track and Field Games In the late 1970s the Hershey’s chocolate company began development of a nationwide network of track meets for kids 9-14. Rec administrator Ernie Drapela went east to observe a pilot program. The following year, 1978, Shelley Briggs took on the task of organizing the first Hershey’s Track and Field Games in Eugene, becoming Oregon state chairperson in the process. Tim Patrick joined her in working the meets. Briggs and Patrick, in fact, stuck with the program throughout its 37 year history, both continuing to volunteer after leaving city employment. Briggs was the first, and only two-time, winner of the Hershey’s Founder Award. 83