An announcement in today's Eugene Register Guard newspaper:
The city of Eugene has a new slogan: “Track Town, USA ... Forever.”
It’s an appropriate moniker, especially in light of Wednesday’s announcement by Craig Masback, the CEO of USA Track & Field, that Eugene has been designated the host city for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.
Thus, not only will the road to the Beijing Olympics travel through historic Hayward Field this summer at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials, but the road to the 2012 London Olympics will follow the same route.
In addition, Eugene will play host to the U.S. Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2009 and 2011, and the NCAA Championships in 2010, thereby ensuring that a major track and field meet will be held in the Eugene-Springfield community for the next five years.
“Eugene, the University of Oregon and Hayward Field are sacred ground for our sport,” said Masback, as he delivered a short address to a standing-room only crowd in Heritage Hall at the Bowerman Building.
“The opportunity to come here for multiple years provides a generation of our athletes the thrill of visiting and competing in a setting that is unequaled around the world ... and let me assure you, the world will be watching.”
