40th Nike Pre Classic on May 30-31, 2014

Kenenisa Bekele, photo by TracktownPhoto.com

The Nike Pre Classic is the meet where Nike showcases the best of its best athletes. It was in Eugene in 2008, where I was able to stand, next to the fence and watch Kenenisa Bekele run the fastest 10,000 meters ever in North America.

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EVENTS SET FOR 40TH PRE CLASSIC

Eugene–The Prefontaine Classic, the longest-running international invitational meet in the United States, turns 40 this year. Part of the elite IAAF Diamond League series for a 5^th consecutive year, the meet format will again feature events on Friday evening (May 30), and Saturday afternoon (May 31), all at historic Hayward Field.

Friday’s “Distance Night in Eugene” will showcase the strongest men’s 10,000 Meter field anywhere in the world. Complementing the 10k, three IAAF Diamond League events will also be staged on Friday night: the women’s Long Jump and Discus Throw, and the men’s Shot Put, always a crowd favorite at Hayward Field, which has seen more 70-foot throws than any other venue on the planet. And best of all, admission on Friday evening is once again free, thanks to the support of longtime title sponsor, Nike.

Saturday’s main menu features 13 IAAF Diamond League events, including the men’s 100, 800, 5000, High Hurdles, Pole Vault, Triple Jump and Javelin Throw. The men’s 400 and legendary annual Bowerman Mile will be contested as well. The women’s IDL events are the 200, 400, 1500, Steeplechase, 400 Hurdles, and High Jump. An Olympic-level 3k or 2-Mile race will also be run as an additional event.

The field in the men’s Shot Put has already been announced (see www.preclassic.com for a listing.) The remaining fields for all events will be announced beginning next week.

Tickets for the 40^th annual edition of the Prefontaine Classic are available from goducks.com and from 1-800-WEBFOOT.

The Prefontaine Classic Last year’s sold-out edition totaled the highest performance score in the world for the past decade as calculated by All-Athletics.com, the official data partner of the IAAF Diamond League. Sponsored by NIKE continuously since 1984, the Prefontaine Classic will be shown live to an international audience and by NBC Sports from 1:30 till 3:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 31.

Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history. He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is still the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race. While competing for the University of Oregon, he won NCAA cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance. As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4^th in the 5K at the Munich Olympics, at age 22. After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records. His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24. The meet in his honor began that year and has been held every year since.

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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