Some top pros from the post-2000 era share their favorite Hayward Field races with us. What are your favorite Hayward memories?
Some top pros from the post-2000 era share their favorite Hayward Field races with us. What are your favorite Hayward memories?
Bill Bowerman and his great ideas and tricks (i.e seriously planning to have two twins switch halfway for race and set new world record.and then 5 min later say there's been an accident.)
I was in Oregon a few years ago to run along the rogue river and do a 200 mile relay so I went up to Eugene. Guy let me in and I did two laps around the track. I just did it so someday I could tell people I did so that's what I am doing now.
A much more memorable race for me was running at the SHOE when I was in high school.
Moses Mosop 25 and 30 kilometer world record on the track
My favorite Hayward moment is a tie between seeing Oregon men sweep the 800 at the Oly Trials, and seeing Ashton Eaton set a world record in the Decathlon at the 2012 trials.
My favorite was 2008 Olympic Trials Mens's 800.
Also 2007 Prefontaine 2 mile where Mottram outkicked Kenyans and said on live TV "it comes down to size of your balls".
I first visited Hayward Field in August 1968. Jim Ryun raced Marty Liquori in an Olympic Trials tuneup meet. Ryun won 3:59.0 to 3:59.3. I remember it was raining and they still had the old cinder track.
Next time I went was 1971 AAU. Pre won the 3-mile against Shorter and Lindgren. Also was at the 1972 OT when Pre won the 5,000 against George Young in an AR 13:22.8.
Since then, attended many Pre Classics and other events. Saw Rudy Chapa and Alberto Salazar run a great 3,000 at Oregon Twilight. I think Chapa ran an AR 7:37, Salazar about 7:43.
Galen Rupp’s American record at Pre Classic Distance night in 2014. Easily the most electric running environment I’ve ever experienced. Everyone was on their feet from 3k to go and it was as loud as I’ve ever heard Hayward. Not to mention I heard someone a few rows above me screaming “ALBERTO’S NOT FLACCID!!!” once the race was over.
Eugene is an interesting place.
Hmm. With some of these top pros sharing their thoughts with Letsrun, I might have to finally consider Letsrun a legitimate running media outlet. Wow. Never thought I would see the day.
all of the above....
Ashton's last 300 in 2012. Must have been what Pre experienced in 1972. Joe Detmer never got enough credit for hauling that big dog to the finish line.
Galen doing a final 1:56 in the NCAA or USATF 10k; looked like he was shot out of a cannon. That, and his 2012 5k sprint to (finally) beat Lagat.
Amy Begley burning her final lap and squeezing onto the team in 2008.
Speaking of 156 yr old Lagat winning in 2016. The volume of that crowd...
UO's Marshall Atchley (?) limping thru the dec 1500 in his final collegiate race.
Kim Conley's finish
Boris Berian's smile after making the team in 2016
Shelby's look of total devastation after she made the team in 2016; I can't imagine the emotion she was feeling (at least it LOOKED like devastation)
not a race: seeing Air France showing up time and time again to wow the crowd in the vaulting pit. And Brad Stevens' 2008 AR
2014 Junior Outdoor Worlds, all of it. Incredible energy.
Honorable Mention: Cyrus Hostetler (2016 OT Jav winner) pacing the men's 5k semi to the bell while on his victory lap. Cyrus burned a serious 150 from the steeple pit to the finish line...and since it was the 4th of July, he was holding Old Glory high and proud. Quite a sight...see below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2N3tSOmMY&app=desktop
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHf2lUjg4I5/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RM8xmUOvwE&feature=youtu.be
I'm sure I'll be a little bit dewey when the NCAA women's 4x4 ends.
my apologies....I left off a hometown beast in the 2012 Steeplechase
Max King
Pacing a friend to the OT standard in early May, Max ran away with that race and nearly got his own standard. He did only 4-5 track workouts before the Trials (he was mostly a trail runner then), got his standard, qualified as the final runner in the semi, barely made the final on time, then ran an insanely controlled race in the final. Burned his last 300 and finished 6th.
And looked all the while like he simply had a nice stroll at Phil's Trail.
I was in the stands when Ashton Eaton broke the Decathlon WR in 2012. The place was absolutely electric! Curtis Beach slowed during the final 100m to give Eaton the 1500m victory. The expression on his face was priceless. Great memory. I remember the feeling I got the first time I saw Hayward field. I can't imagine why on earth anyone would want to replace it with a modern turd. I've seen this happen with NFL stadiums over the last 20 years. You can go take a leak and get a beer much faster but the soul that brought you there has been forever gutted. It will never return. I looked forward to taking my son to Hayward field one day. I have zero interest in that now.
Brenda Martinez qualifying by a hair after 6 races.
Watching Rudy Chapa, with my teammates, win NCAA 5,000M.
Winning some races there.
All the famous races. 76 Trials. 2008 Trials. 2016 Trials. SEVERAL NCAA'S. Seeing Webb shock the meet and beat Jim Ryun' s HS record. Before that race everyone was like "yeah, right, he's going to try and break that record." Then, wow. El G's grace after the race in celebrating Webb.
All comers races there in the summers, hanging with all the families by the finish line.
Really the biggest memory isn't a single one, it's a collection.
The community. The fellow alums.
Duck teammates. All the good "kids" before and after.
Seeing my future girlfriend and her 3 daughters walk past me at the trials, a year and a half before I met her (back in our home state/town). What are the odds?
It's been an experience of so many experiences. Mostly I remember the vivid memories of Hayward being sunny and warm.
Except that one workout where we came into the home straight and were stood straight up by sideways rain and strong gales.
And Bill saying "don't worry about it, it's about the effort."
Tons of memories.
Time for the shock of the new.
And new memories for the next generations.
Bill Huntington wrote:
I first visited Hayward Field in August 1968. Jim Ryun raced Marty Liquori in an Olympic Trials tuneup meet. Ryun won 3:59.0 to 3:59.3. I remember it was raining and they still had the old cinder track.
Next time I went was 1971 AAU. Pre won the 3-mile against Shorter and Lindgren. Also was at the 1972 OT when Pre won the 5,000 against George Young in an AR 13:22.8.
Since then, attended many Pre Classics and other events. Saw Rudy Chapa and Alberto Salazar run a great 3,000 at Oregon Twilight. I think Chapa ran an AR 7:37, Salazar about 7:43.
i saw that 3k, where they ran like possessed demons with a plan, sharing the lead and switching, maybe they intended to go for even the world record?
Chapa was capable of WR for 5000m and maybe 10000 m. but he was burnt by 26 and no olympics, not even one. Oregon burnt them all at that time. David Mack survived best for longevity, even though they had him doing the 8 and 400 relay all the time....
1. Rono with his big belly hanging over his waistband taking down Salazar in the rain 27:29 to 27:30 (82?)
2. Rupp over Lagat in 5K at the 2012 trials. The place was electric!!!
3. Leading Bill McChesney through 300-m in a summer all-comers 800 (No need to discuss how it finished)
1976 Trials:
In the 10,000 Gary Bjorklund ran the last 5,000 with one shoe and outkicked Bill Rodgers for 3rd, behind Shorter and Virgin, to make the team. The East Grandstand, where I sat in the 2nd row, was LOUD.
And the essence of Track at Hayward Field. A couple of days after Harvey Glance emerged on the scene, winning the 100, he walked down the backstretch to the start of the 200 heats and the East Grandstand started applauding. He looked around, clearly wondering what was causing the applause. And then realized it was for him. They knew who he was - and appreciated him.
I was able to attend the 2008 Olympic Trials when they brought it back to Eugene for the first time since whenever. Like many young American runners, I grew up on the legend of Oregon, Pre, and Hayward. Being able to attend that Trials and see so many of my heroes in the stadium and just jogging around Eugene was a dream come true.
Anyways, my favorite race was the 2008 800m finals, the same as Nick Symmonds. I had a seat on the homestretch and the crowd when absolutely nuts when the three guys from Oregon qualified, especially the dive from Christian Smith. The victory lap was more like a victory miles. Just bonkers.
Queen Harrison's parents were sitting nearby, and it cool to be there when she qualified for the Olympics in the 400m hurdles.
I forget which year it was but the meet when Steve Prefontaine's 3 Olympic Gold Medals was borrowed from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington and were on display at Hayward Field was the most memorable of all.
Lawi Lalang over King Ches in the 5k, 2014 NCAA Champs.
Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!
Des Linden: "The entire sport" has changed since she first started running Boston.
Matt Choi was drinking beer halfway through the Boston Marathon
Ryan Eiler, 3rd American man at Boston, almost out of nowhere
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