Cascade Run Off executive director Chuck Galford knew it would rock the world of competitive running when his Oregon event decided to defy amateur rules and pay open prize money for the 1981 race. That was the point.
“We decided we would do it with full awareness that it was going to put us in the position of staring into the mouth of the cannon, that the governing bodies were going to come down hard on us and would try to destroy the race,” Galford said. “We did it with eyes wide open, but we thought it was the right thing to do.”
Galford gives credit to Bolder Boulder co-founders Steve Bosley and Frank Shorter, who helped create a trust fund system acceptable to national and international track and field federations that solved the crisis.
“I think Steve and Frank and those guys came up with a compromise that was a partial win for each side,” Galford said.
But he takes issue with Shorter’s assertion that runners who raced the Cascade Run Off were “naive” if they thought they could run the race without losing their amateur status.
“I think to a large extent, they proved to be not naive,” Galford said. “They got most of what they wanted.”
