From Worlds to Warehouse
The Oregon22 Road Events team on the final day of the championships.
Hi Eugene Marathon family! We wanted to say hello and provide a quick update from the Eugene Marathon world headquarters: picture a small office and warehouse in downtown Eugene that is filled to the brim with cones, tables, water coolers and numerous other event tools and supplies.
The summer of 2022 was an historic one for our team and our community. The World Athletics Championships came to Eugene and the US for the first time ever, and our small crew staffed up and stepped up to plan, prepare and execute the Oregon22 road races. In all, we pulled off five days of competition and six events: two 20K race walks, two marathons and two 35K race walks. There were hundreds of athletes and team officials from across the world, hundreds of international media and broadcasters, thousands of spectators lining the course, and 1000 runners participating in the ASICS Uplift 5K fan race during the men’s marathon.
We spent countless hours designing courses that would meet competition requirements while showcasing the natural beauty of Eugene and Springfield. Then we created the build-out plans to turn Autzen Stadium and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd into a world-class road events venue. Come event time, our crew of committed course captains and volunteers suffered brutal 2 AM wake-up calls to move 12 kilometers of barricade, 175 tables, 500 cones, 14 kilometer markers, 10 kilometers of course tape and 52 flower pots that set the stage for record-setting performances.
World Championship records fell in both men’s and women’s marathons, and both 35K race walks. Multiple national and area records were established across all distances and, in our favorite moment of the championships, the American team of Sara Hall, Emma Bates and Keira D’Amato finished 5th, 7th and 8th in the women’s marathon and shared a joyful embrace at the finish line. In her post-race interview, Hall said: “It was the most fun I ever had in a marathon.”
Emma Bates and Sara Hall welcome teammate Keira D’Amato to the finish of the women’s marathon.
Photo Credit: Jake Willard / TrackTown USA
Oregon22 was a massive challenge for our team (so much barricade!) and it was a distinct honor for us to play such a significant role in a global athletics event. But most importantly, it highlighted what we love most about our annual Eugene Marathon - that this community rallies around the sport of running and track & field like no other place in the world (remember the brigade of fans biking alongside the marathoners on MLK Blvd.?).
Check out this highlight reel from World Athletics to bring back all the memories!
After taking some much-needed vacation time in August and gearing up for our fall event - the Run to Stay Warm on November 20 - we took advantage of another opportunity this past weekend and flew to Chicago to participate in the Chicago Marathon’s Race Management Program. It gave us a behind-the-scenes look at how one of the biggest and best races in the world operates and it was a great experience with many key takeaways that we’ll apply to our 2023 race and beyond.
To sum it up, over the past few months, we saw first-hand how World Athletics and an Abbot World Major Marathon operate their events, and now we're back to our warehouse with a deep appreciation for what we have here in Eugene, along with a keen motivation for what we can do to make the 2023 Eugene Marathon our best race experience ever. If you’re already registered for 2023, hooray! We can’t wait to see you in April and give you a high-five at the Hayward Field finish line. If you haven’t been back to Eugene in awhile, we want to invite you back. Come run with us in 2023 and Run in The Footsteps of Legends.