Track Dedication brought World Class Athletes and the Oregon National Guard to Maupin.

The Celebration of Maupin's 100 years brought a few visitors to town to experience this amazing community, the river and attend the official dedication of the Maupin Deschutes River Athletic Complex. Mayor Lynn Ewing and Rob Miles thanked the community and donors for their continued support of the project. We still have a few more stages to complete but as we fund and build those out events will surely come our way.

The Backstretch of the Maupin Deschutes River Athletic Complex...The Infinity Track...

We were able to welcome the Oregon National Guard back to Maupin and show them the Track and Field Complex including the corner that they spent over 2 weeks in July of 2020 to create the footprint for us to lay the final design in place. There work was instrumental in the completion of the project and they were overjoyed to see the final results of their work.

Craig Engels and Sinclaire Johnson on the Carver Corner with the Oregon National Guard.

In addition to the Oregon National Guard members of the Union Athletics Club, one of Nike's professional running teams came out to enjoy a raft trip and be present for the dedication of the track meeting the community members, donors and the future athletes that will compete on this track.

Sinclaire Johnson National Champ in the 1500m this year and 6th at the World Championships signs a future athlete's shirt

Sinclaire Johnson, this year's National Champion in the 1500 m and placing 6th at last summer's World Championships in Eugene. She was happy the be there and offered her congrats on building one of the picturesque tracks she had ever seen. Our goal is to get a few of the UAC team members to train and potentially have some events that bring them to DRAC!

Craig Engels with Virgil Newberry, current 1500 record holder and Oregon State Champion in the 3000m from SWCHS in 2002

National Guard showing photos of the work they did to Craig Engels at the track in July of 2020.

Union Athletics Club 1500 meter star Craig Engels took a few laps with the locals including the current South Wasco County Redside 1500m record holder, Virgil Newberry who now is also part of the Oregon National Guard. Engels is one of the most popular distance runners in the world. The group camped on the BLM Road near Surf City and thanks to the Imperial River Company the UAC Athletes and the Oregon National Guard rafted the Deschutes before the ceremony.

Virgil Newberry's 1500m mark still stands on the record board from 2002

One of the most popular athletes that attended was Donavan Brazier. Brazier won the 2019 World Championships and has run the fastest Outdoor and Indoor 800m times in US History. He set the American Record with a time of 1:42.34 in Doha at the World Championships. He loves the potential of training out here knowing there is quite a bit less rain in Maupin vs the Nike Campus in Beaverton.

Donavan Brazier signing the shirts of future stars of the sport

Donavan Brazier inspiring the future as well as decorating shirts with his signature.

The day completed with others that made the trip from UAC to compete in the annual tricycle races down Main Street Maupin where Craig Nowak placed 2nd overall during the evening festivities. We hope that this experience will bring them back for clinics, camps, training or racing to really make this a destination for the sport.