McKenzie Track Receives Bowerman Grant

Eugene, Oregon – July 2, 2007 – A community track at tiny McKenzie High School in Blue River, Oregon is closer to reality with a recent donation of $50,000 from Nike's Bowerman Track Renovation Program. Jeff Sherman, Chairman of McKenzie Community Track and Field, a nonprofit organization, says the Nike grant puts the group within $135,000 of completing its plans to have an all-weather running track ready for use this year. MCTF has brought in $430,000 in gifts-in-kind and donations so far.

Lumberman Aaron Jones donated 12.87 acres of an old mill site to McKenzie CTF in 2004. The area has been cleared and base rock laid for the track. Plans for the site include completion of two youth soccer fields and a wetlands facility after the track is finished.

"We want to get this phase of the track done soon so that people can use it, including people who might want to come here as part of their training for the Olympic Trials, and visitors to the Trials," says Sherman. "We're trying to get the word out to a larger community and invite them to come and see what a tiny place is doing, and maybe give us a hand."

Geoff Hollister, a spokesman for the Bowerman Program, agrees with Sherman that the site has potential beyond its local appeal: "With its proximity to some great running trails, the new all-weather track could draw athletes up there to train before or during the Trials if they know about it."

Hollister's group talked initially with the late University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman about the track renovation program. "We wanted to keep his legacy alive. This was what he believed in and invested in while he was alive," says Hollister. "He believed in keeping all-weather tracks going at the high school level. And he was really a country guy himself," so it's no surprise "that many of the tracks supported by the program have been at small schools."

"We've found that the small schools have as good a chance of getting a track built as the larger schools," he adds.

McKenzie H.S. currently does not have a track, and none of the schools in its league have all-weather facilities. Donations to the project may be sent to MCTF, 1574 Coburg Road, #870, Eugene, OR 97401-4802. More information is available at the group's website: mckenziecommunity.org. Jeff Sherman can be reached at (541) 822-4351.