OHSU 5K Tram Run & Walk

The Rose Festival sanctioned event is a fund raiser benefiting Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation of Oregon Health & Science University. Participants who haven’t preregistered online are asked to come to the event festival area in South Waterfront Neighborhood Park at 3508 S.W. Moody Ave. to sign up. Those who have preregistered can pick up their packets at the festival as well. The pre-registration fee is $30; $35 on the day of the event (includes T-shirt and Tram ticket).

After registering or picking up their packets, participants can then can board the Portland Aerial Tram and proceed up to Marquam Hill where the run/walk courses begin. Tram rides are free to registered run/walk participants and $4 per round trip for others. (Festival events in South Waterfront are open and free to all.)

At the upper Tram terminal participants will proceed through the OHSU Kohler Pavilion to Sam Jackson Park Road. The walk/run start line is located on Sam Jackson outside the Kohler Pavilion. Times of participants will be recorded using microchips that runners and walkers place on their shoes.

Participants may start the run/walk any time between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. There are two course options. The first is the same one followed last year and the only one that will be timed. It starts on Sam Jackson Park Road, proceeds down Campus Drive to Terwilliger, down Barbur Blvd to Hooker Ave., over Naito Parkway via a pedestrian bridge and under Arthur/Kelly via a pedestrian tunnel (stairs). The course then winds its way to Moody Ave. and finishes in the festival area in the South Waterfront. Strollers are allowed on this course but participants are responsible for carrying the stroller down a flight of stairs into the pedestrian tunnel and then back up a flight of stairs on the other side of the pedestrian tunnel.

The alternative option is for those with strollers who do not want to navigate the stairs. This course is not timed. It follows the same general path but veers off into downtown to avoid the stairs. It also requires participants to stop and wait for crosswalk signals in a few intersections. Volunteers will staff this course as well as the main course and will try to limit the interruptions by pressing the walk signals as they see participants approaching. Both courses end at the event festival in the South Waterfront.

Course maps can be viewed by following the links on the Tram Run & Walk site. At the finish line at South Waterfront Neighborhood Park, adjacent to the OHSU Center for Health & Healing, participants will be greeted by the Tram Run & Walk Festival, which will be open to all comers. The festival hours are from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.There will be live music throughout the event, before and after the race.

The schedule is as follows:

8 a.m.-9a.m.: Clan Macleay Pipe Band (bagpipes)

9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: St. James’s Gate (Irish folk)

11 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Stephanie Schneiderman (pop/blues)

12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.: The Texecutioners (honky tonk)

2 p.m. - 3 p.m.: The Lions of Batucada (marching band)

3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Norfolk & Western (indie rock)

The OHSU Health Fair also will be located in the festival with information available from OHSU medical departments. Widmer Brother’s Brewing Company will donate a portion of its proceeds from beer sales at the festival to OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.