Runners and exercise enthusiasts from all over the country spent yesterday morning running Butte to Butte through south and downtown Eugene before heading back to watch the remaining few days of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials at Hayward Field.
Longtime friends Mark Mikel, from Indiana, and Rick Stucky, from Silverton, Ore., got up early yesterday to celebrate the Fourth of July by tackling the six-mile run together, and they have been running together for decades.
“We met in college” at the University of Evansville in Indiana, Mikel said. “I was a freshman and he was a junior. He saw me running and then we figured out we were going to be on the same team.”
The pair ran distance for their university track team through their college years, and have stayed friends and running mates ever since.
“When I got tickets to the Trials I just called him up to see if he could come on out,” said Stucky, a former Salem City Council member.
Mikel was happy to take the trip, which would allow him to combine a visit with his longtime friend and an opportunity to view the Olympic Trials at Hayward Field.
“I thought I’d put up the money to come on out here and spend the holiday weekend with my best friend,” Mikel said, adding that it was a bonus to find himself out that morning running the Butte to Butte.
Many of this year’s Butte to Butte contestants were Trials spectators.
Jim Cogswell, from Hood River, came to watch the Trials with family members who live in Eugene. He and his son-in-law, Joe Connelly of Eugene, opened their Fourth of July weekend with the early-morning run.
“In Hood River we have a big race like this that we do every Fourth of July, too,” Cogswell said.
The 10K race, which began at 8 a.m. Friday, started at 43rd Avenue and Donald Street and headed through Fox Hollow to Amazon Parkway, then through downtown Eugene, before finally ending at Skinner Butte Park.
Contestants said the most grueling part of the six-mile stretch was in the first mile of Donald Street – which is entirely uphill.
“You’ve got to take your time up Donald Street Hill,” said Paul Croft, a running enthusiast from Boston here to watch the Olympic Trials. “It’s a big hill.”
The race attracted many local contestants as well.
“I ran it once before,” said Ravi Natanson, a local salon owner. “It’s something that everyone knows about – the Butte to Butte.”
Larry Leverone, an 11-year Eugene resident, ran the Butte to Butte yesterday for the second time.
“I just had open heart surgery in November,” Leverone said. He has a new-found devotion for exercise because of his heart.
“Sixty minutes of aerobic exercise everyday is what Doctor Duke told me to do,” he said.
Leverone, a Lane Community College math teacher, added that, “Staying healthy is more important than algebra.”
Other locals have been involved in the Fourth of July tradition much longer.
“I was reminded by a shirt this morning that the first time I ran this race was in 1979,” Connelly said.
According to the Butte to Butte Web site, the July 4 tradition began in 1973 as the “Storm the Butte” run with a different route – a race up Spencer’s Butte. Because this route was potentially damaging to the area’s wildlife, the next year it was changed to a Butte to Butte race, from Spencer’s Butte to Skinner’s Butte, and the tradition stuck.
This year’s winner on the women’s side was Stephanie Rothstein, with a time of 34 minutes 54 seconds. The men’s winner was Bret Schoolmeester, who timed at 30 minutes 6 seconds.
The 10K Run and the 4.5-mile Mayor’s Fitness Walk are the two featured events. Only the 10K race is scored, however, because some of the walking contestants run part of their race, said William Wyckoff, the event organizer.
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