Father and son bond over Prefontaine Classic runs

La Conner distance runner Toby Walls caught up with some of the biggest names in track-and-field on May 25.

Walls and his son, Sylas, an up-and-coming middle school racer, were part of the large crowd attending the annual Prefontaine Classic at legendary Hayward Field at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore.

Named for late Oregon running icon and Olympian Steve Prefontaine, who from 1973-75 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters, the Prefontaine Classic each year draws the world's best track-and-field athletes. This year it served as a major preliminary for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Attending the Prefontaine Classic "was a bucket list event for Toby," said his wife, La Conner photographer Sarah Walls, a frequent Weekly News contributor.

It was also much anticipated by the couple's son, a sixth grader who competed in three races – mostly against older runners – at the district middle school meet in Burlington last week.

Toby Walls, a La Conner School District employee who regularly trains during his off hours, said his wife bought the Prefontaine Classic tickets as a 50th birthday gift for him.

"I'm going to be there early wearing my Prefontaine shirt and carrying a Sharpie to hopefully get some autographs," Toby Walls said before setting off for Eugene.

They also collected several photos of the setting, often referred to as "TrackTown USA," including a shot of Toby Walls with women's Olympic 100-meter favorite Sha'Carri Richardson. Richardson won the Prefontaine Classic 100-meter dash with a 10.83 finish.

The Wallses also saw ­Kenya's Beatrice Chebet set a new women's 10,000-meter record at 28:54.14.

Toby Walls was especially looking forward to seeing the Bowerman Mile duel between archrivals Josh Kerr of the ­United Kingdom and Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

In what was billed beforehand as the "mile of the century," Kerr set a new British record at 3:45.34. He overtook ­Ingebrigtsen with 600 meters to go and held on to take the win. Ingebrigtsen finished in 3:45.60. American Yared Naguse was third in 3:46.22.

The Prefontaine Classic, with plenty of drama beyond the Kerr-Ingebrigtsen clash, was televised live on NBC. But for the Wallses, there was no substitute for being there.