The event features a bucolic 13.1 mile course starting at Stoller Vineyards and Winery in Dundee. Runners then wind through the heart of the Willamette Valley, finishing in the town of Carlton where the Wine & Music Festival is held from 9:00am to Noon. Local wineries will be pouring at the festival which also features the race awards ceremony, live band, exhibitor booths, and beer and food garden. The festival is co-sponsored by Ken Wright Cellars and the Willamette Valley Wineries Association.

The Race Expo is held on Saturday from 10:00am to 6:00pm at The Allison Inn, a luxury resort located in Newberg. Open to the public, the expo features exhibitor booths, packet pickup for runners, informational seminars and a wine and food tasting hosted by Chehalem Mountain Winegrowers.

According to Matt Dockstader, founder of Destination Races, the event is positioned to introduce the Oregon wine country to a whole new market. “This area is very picturesque, the wines are outstanding and best of all, the people here are so warm and welcoming.” Dockstader added, “I really believe this is going to be one of the premier destination races in the country and if the other Wine Country Half Marathons are any indication of what’s to come, Oregon wine country can see a measurable boost in tourism that weekend due to the event.”

The Oregon Sports Authority played a leading role in bringing the event to Oregon and facilitated introduction to event partners, making it possible for a 2010 event to come to fruition. “We’re delighted to help bring the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon to the Yamhill Valley,” said Drew Mahalic, CEO of the Oregon Sports Authority. “It’s a chance to share two of Oregon’s greatest passions — wine and running — with visitors coming to participate from across the country.”

Destination Races also produces the Napa-to-Sonoma, Santa Barbara and Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathons in California. These boutique-style events draw runners from all over the country and are limited to 3,000 runners or less, usually selling out well in advance of the race. The Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon also offers a team competition and a 2-person relay.

Elite runners will compete for $2,000 in prize money sponsored by West Coast Bank, plus Ball Watches and magnums of wine. Each participant receives a technical running shirt, colorful finisher’s medal, and logo wine glass. Top three finishers in each age category win a bottle of wine and other awards. The Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon is limited to 2,000 participants in its inaugural year. Registration is currently open and can be accessed on the event website at www.run4oregonwine.com. For more information on the event series, visit www.destinationraces.com.

It’s the closest the Olympics have been to Portland, but if you don’t have a ticket to any events, a couple hundred hours of television coverage will be provided by NBC and other networks (see day-by-day list on page 4). NBC’s 17-day coverage, aired locally on KGW (8), begins with opening ceremonies at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12.

— Excerpt from the Portland Tribune, February 4, 2010

“This is bigger than the Pacific Northwest being the hub of soccer in North America,” Paulson said. “This is about soccer finally taking hold in the country. You know, for years people have asked, ‘When will the world’s biggest sport finally matter in America? When will all those kids who play soccer actually watch soccer?’ And I tell you that that time is now.

— Excerpt from OregonLive.com, February 4, 2010

Click below to view the entire Oregon Sports Authority eUpdate.

— Excerpt from OregonLive.com, February 3, 2010

Local Olympic programming on KGW NewsChannel 8 will begin at 5:00 p.m. on the big screens at Pioneer Square, followed by a live event program from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., featuring introductions of Oregon Olympians and Paralympians, and several exciting prize giveaways. NBC’s broadcast of the Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremony will begin at approximately 9:00 p.m.

The Oregon Sports Authority invites the public to join in the festivities leading up to the celebration by entering for a chance to win a trip to see the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony at kgw.com. The winner will be announced at Pioneer Square on the evening of February 12.

“Given our proximity to Vancouver, B.C., we decided to provide Oregonians with the opportunity to come together and celebrate the Olympic Games being in this part of the world,” said Oregon Sports Authority CEO Drew Mahalic. “The Olympics are the absolute pinnacle of sport and the Opening Ceremony is always a magical night so we hope people enjoy the chance to come downtown and share in the experience together.”

Nearly four years ago, the Oregon Sports Authority hosted a very successful World Cup Soccer public viewing event at Pioneer Square. Well over 10,000 fans came to watch the semifinals and final, jamming Pioneer Square and electrifying downtown Portland. The Oregon Sports Authority is pleased to once again provide the chance for people to come together and witness one of the world’s greatest sports spectacles.

A deal to renovate PGE Park for Major League Soccer will have at least four “yeas” when it comes up for a vote next week, with all Portland city commissioners except Amanda Fritz saying Wednesday they would support it.

Left unresolved is what will happen to the Portland Beavers Triple-A baseball team, which will play in the ballpark this year but must find a new home after that.

Merritt Paulson, who owns both the Beavers and the Timbers soccer team, told council members that his goal “has been and still is to keep the Beavers in Portland or the Portland area for years to come.”

He said his company has advanced three unsuccessful plans for a new Beavers ballpark — Memorial Coliseum, Lents Park and Beaverton.

“When it comes to the future of the Beavers, I am a willing and eager partner; a willing financial partner, business partner and community partner as well. But to succeed, I also need a willing and eager government partner,” Paulson said.

— Excerpt from OregonLive.com, January 27, 2010

The University of Oregon is hosting the NCAA Championships at Historic Hayward Field June 9-12. Tickets will be available on line at www.goducks.com, via phone (1-800-932-3668/541-346-4461) or in person at the Athletic Ticket Office in the Len Casanova Center.

The four-day, all-session ticket prices are $80 for reserved seating, $60 for adult general admission and $40 for youth and senior general admission and U of O students.

“The excitement for the return of the NCAA Championships to Hayward Field has been building for months,” said Oregon Associate Athletic Director Vin Lananna. “Our ticket office has been fielding many calls from people anxiously awaiting the opportunity to buy NCAA tickets.

“If you are planning to buy tickets for the NCAAs, we strongly encourage you to do so on January 22,” said Lananna.

For the first time in its history, the NCAA Championships will feature a streamlined competition schedule with each of the four days featuring only semifinals or finals.

The 2010 Championships should also be among the most compelling in recent history with the reigning champion Texas A&M men’s and women’s teams defending their titles against the host school, Oregon, which finished as the runner-up in both races a season ago in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Ducks feature three defending NCAA Champions on their current roster, including senior Ashton Eaton in the men’s decathlon, senior Andrew Wheating in the men’s 800 meters and junior Brianne Theisen in the women’s heptathlon. In addition, the Duck teams boast a combined 23 All-Americans, 12 men and 11 women.

The talent traveling from around the nation to Track Town, USA, will be impressive.

The men alone figure to have 14 of the 19 individual event champions back to defend their crowns in 2010, including every running event between 100 and 1,500 meters.

In addition to Eaton (decathlon) and Wheating (800 meters), the list of returning NCAA men’s champions includes Trindon Holliday of Louisiana State (100 meters), Charles Clark of Florida State (200 meters), Jonathan Borlee of Florida State (400 meters), German Fernandez of Oklahoma State (1,500 meters), Ronnie Ash of Bethune-Cookman (110 meter hurdles), Jeshua Anderson of Washington State (400 meter hurdles), Jason Colwick of Rice (pole vault), Ngonidzashe Makusha of Florida State (long jump), Will Claye of Oklahoma (triple jump), Ryan Whiting of Arizona State (shot put), Marcel Lomnicky of Virginia Tech (hammer) and Chris Hill of Georgia (javelin).

Conversely, the women’s competition looks to have Bowerman Award finalist Porscha Lucas of Texas A&M back to defend her title in the 200 meters, in addition to Kimberly Williams of Florida State, who is the defending NCAA champ in both the long jump and the triple jump. Other women looking to defend include Joanna Atkins of Auburn (400 meters), Angela Bizzarri of Illinois (5,000 meters), Kylie Hutson of Indiana State (pole vault), Mariam Kevkhishvili of Florida (shot put) and Theisen in the heptathlon.

If the 2009 Championships are any indication, the 2010 team races could come down to the final event. The women’s competition was decided in the final 20 minutes of the meet, while the men’s came down to the last event, the 4×400 meter relay, with four different teams — Oregon, Florida, Florida State and Texas A&M — vying for the title before the Aggies eked out a two-point victory.

This will be the Championships’ first appearance in Eugene since 2001, and will be the 10th time overall that Hayward Field has hosted the NCAA meet. Chicago (13) and Eugene will be the only cities to have hosted at least 10 NCAA Track & Field Championships.

For additional information on the NCAA Championships, visit www.NCAA.com.