For track and field fans, taking in a meet as prestigious as the Olympic trials can be equivalent to catching a World Series game at Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, or a USC-Notre Dame football game in South Bend, Ind.

Former Brewer High School and current University of Maine runner Brendan Carr enjoyed the experience of a lifetime last week, as he and two friends, former UMaine runners Paul Rupperecht and Jeff Caron, took in the action at the Olympic track and field trials at the University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field.

This wasn’t one of those spur-of-the-moment type things where one shells out thousands of dollars for tickets on eBay.

“We planned it about a year and a half ago really … it was Jeff’s idea, he bought the tickets, then I bought [mine] from him,” Carr said after arriving back home this week.

Carr, entering his junior year at UMaine, said the tickets for the entire event were $350, or about $40 per day. He stayed with a friend, former Orono High runner Thomas Hornsby, a student at Oregon.

“He was about a block from the track – great location – everything was in walking distance,” Carr said.

Rupperecht and Caron attended the 2004 Trials in Sacramento, Calif., and when they pitched the idea to Carr about attending, he was sold almost immediately.

“I heard about it, they told me all the stories. Then when I realized it was going to be in Eugene I realized it was something I couldn’t pass up,” he said.

Carr, Rupperecht and Caron had impressive seats along the starting line of the 1,500 meters, and Carr said they had an excellent view of the track and quite a few field event areas.

“The high jump, javelin and pole vault we could see perfectly,” Carr said.

He added that he got autographs from many athletes, including 800-meter champ Nick Simmons, Bernard Legat and Ryan Hall, who won the marathon trials last November.

One of the bigger highlights was watching Maine native Anna Willard run to an American record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

“Anna Willard was so unbelievable, so impressive and so strong the way she ran. Nobody had seen anything like that from an American,” Carr said.

In addition to Willard’s outstanding performance, Carr witnessed Ellsworth native Louie Luchini make the finals of the 10,000 meters and former Sumner of East Sullivan star Brendan O’Keefe compete in the preliminary heats of the 1,500.

Luchini ran to a 23rd-place finish in the 10K final in 29 minutes, 42.78 seconds while O’Keefe was ninth in his preliminary race (3:46.84).

“I talked to O’Keefe a little bit before the round. He was just excited to be a part of it,” Carr said.

As big as was the attraction of the stadium where Steve Prefontaine never lost a race of longer than 2,000 meters and Bill Bowerman coached some of the greatest athletes in the sport’s history, there were plenty of other sites to see.

One was Pre’s Rock, a monument located on the spot in Eugene where Prefontaine was killed in a car accident in 1975, and Pre’s Trail, a trail in the area that was dedicated to him after he died.

“It’s really impressive the way people put so much into that rock,” Carr said.

Runners in the area adorn the spot with items such as sneakers, bib numbers from road races, singlets and hats.

Carr’s overall impression of the city known as “Track Town USA” and the stadium otherwise known as “The House that Bowerman Built?”

“It was great, 21,000 people actually paying attention to a track meet is a very rare thing,” he said. “I can’t wait to tell the guys [at UMaine] about it.”

Spuds win MDI relay race

The Spudland Racers from Aroostook County mashed their competition at the sixth annual Around Mount Desert Island Relay race on the 4th of July.

The eight-leg, 61.09-mile race circles the perimeter of MDI.

The Spuds clocked a total time of 6 hours, 1 minute, 7 seconds, establishing a course record.

Competitors included Robert Gomez, Jeff Sprague, Spencer McElwain, Drew Freme, Thomas Beckum and Scotty Dorrity.

Individually, Sprague, Gomez, Beckum and McElwain each established records on different legs.

Sprague set two, on the 8.95-mile second leg and the 6.7-mile seventh. He completed the second leg in 49 minutes, 52 seconds and the seventh in 37:56.

McElwain, a former running standout at Caribou High School, toured the 9.08-mile third leg in 56:42 while Gomez completed the 5.59-mile fifth leg in 30:52 and Beckum covered the 8.45-mile sixth in 48:45.

rmclaughlin@bangordailynews.net

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