Pre Classic set for July 4th again next year, after success of 2025 meet

The Prefontaine Classic, which brings the top track and field athletes to Eugene every year, will take place on Independence Day next year, as organizers appear to be building on the success of the 2025 event, also held over the July 4 holiday weekend.

TrackTown USA, which organizes the meet, made the announcement for the 2026 event on Monday, Oct. 6. The Prefontaine Classic, held at Hayward Field, is named for Steve Prefontaine, a renowned University of Oregon distance runner and Olympian who died in 1975.

Tickets sold out for the 50th edition of the meet on July 5, 2025, which became the highest scoring single-day invitational meet ever recorded by World Athletics, according to TrackTown USA. The meet saw two world records and seven national records.

Hayward Field rarely sells out, which made this year’s Prefontaine Classic an outlier. Karen Ramming, spokesperson for TrackTown USA, told Lookout Eugene-Springfield in July the organization was pleased by the attendance at this year’s meet.

“We’re very happy with how much the community and fans turned out,” Ramming said. “Over 4,000 tickets sold were from outside the state of Oregon, which is sick, and just everybody showing up for this five-hour window is incredible. And you know, you saw the line wrapping around the stadium to get in this morning, so I think it’s very safe to say that we are very happy.”

The event is part of the Wanda Diamond League, a series of elite track and field meets that take place around the world each year. Organizers will announce the competition events for the 2026 Prefontaine Classic in the future. And ticket sales will open at a later date. 

The Prefontaine Classic is not the only running event scheduled for next Fourth of July. The Butte to Butte race — a 10K, four-mile walk, and 5K — draws thousands of runners to Eugene every July 4. The event had more than 4,500 finishers this past summer.