Coos Bay is preparing to turn its downtown streets over to runners September 19 as the Prefontaine Memorial Run returns for its 45th running, sending competitors across the hills where Steve Prefontaine trained before finishing at the Marshfield High School track that carries his name.
The Saturday morning race will bring high school teams, competitive 10K runners, recreational participants and spectators into the city during the Bay Area Fun Festival weekend. Race preparations are now entering their final weeks, with registration continuing, packet pickup scheduled and traffic restrictions being arranged along a course stretching from downtown into western Coos Bay.
Competition begins at 9:45 a.m. with the high school 5K. Wheelchair competitors are scheduled to follow at approximately 9:50 a.m., before the main 10K field and 2 mile run and walk leave the starting area near Fourth Street and Anderson Avenue at 10:05 a.m.
From downtown, 10K competitors will climb into the Coos Bay terrain that helped shape Prefontaine as a young distance runner. The course incorporates portions of his former training territory and passes near the Prefontaine family home before turning runners back toward Marshfield High School. The final stretch carries them onto Prefontaine Track, connecting the finish of the modern road race with the school where Prefontaine began building his reputation decades ago.
Saturday’s field will also force a temporary change in the movement of traffic across the city. The race route is expected to close to vehicle traffic from approximately 9:30 to 11:15 a.m., affecting Anderson Street from Broadway to Seventh Street, Central Avenue from the Dairy Queen area toward Ocean Boulevard, Ocean Boulevard to the vicinity of Shore Pines Mobile Home Park, 10th Street between Central and Elrod avenues and Ninth Street from Elrod Avenue to Pirate Stadium.
Coos Bay police will control the reopening of affected roadway sections, including portions involving the state highway system. Runners still on the route when streets reopen will be required to move onto sidewalks as normal vehicle traffic resumes.
The high school race will put another generation of Oregon runners onto the Prefontaine course before the adult field begins. The 5K has been conducted separately since 2011 under Oregon high school competition requirements, with boys and girls teams competing for team trophies and runners pursuing individual honors.
The 10K will carry a $2,000 purse divided equally between the men’s and women’s fields. The first man and woman across the finish will each receive $500, second place earns $300 and third receives $200. Awards will continue through five year age divisions, and registered finishers will receive participation medallions.
Registration remains available through midnight September 15. With the early registration period completed, the adult entry fee is $55 for runners and walkers 19 and older, while participants 18 and younger pay $35.
Race operations move to St. Monica Catholic Church Parish Hall, 357 S. Sixth Street, on Friday, September 18, where packet pickup and registration will run from 3 to 6 p.m. The parish hall reopens at 8 a.m. Saturday for final registration and packet pickup, with applications closing at 9:30 a.m., minutes before the first competition begins.
By late morning, activity will shift toward Prefontaine Track. Overall 10K winners and high school competitors are scheduled for recognition at 11:30 a.m., followed by divisional awards at noon.
The race will share the weekend with the Bay Area Fun Festival and Cruz the Coos, placing thousands of feet on downtown pavement through running, festival activity and the classic car gathering as Coos Bay moves through one of its established September weekends.
Money generated through the Prefontaine organization has also traveled back into the athletic programs that feed runners onto South Coast tracks. The Steve Prefontaine Foundation has awarded scholarships to 52 Coos County student athletes since 2005, while grants to area high school cross country and track programs since 2006 have approached $180,000.
On September 19, the story returns to the pavement. Streets ordinarily carrying Saturday traffic will hold race clocks, volunteers, high school teams and runners confronting the same Coos Bay hills Prefontaine once used for training. The finish remains where his competitive career began, at Marshfield High School, with another field crossing Prefontaine Track 51 years after his death and more than half a century after a Coos Bay runner became one of Oregon’s most enduring names in American distance running.