Challenge in the air for athletes.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

Organizers of the Olympic Track & Field Trials knew that one element of the event was out of their controland could wreak havoc on athletes' performances: the invisible plumes of grass pollen that float through the Willamette Valley every spring.

So they consulted with Dr. Kraig Jacobson, a Eugene allergist who had collected more than 25 years of data documenting the worst days for grass pollen, which usually occur between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Jacobson checked his records and said that by late June, the worst of the pollen season is past. So organizers decided to start the games June 27.

"We felt pretty safe" about a late June start for the Trials, Jacobson said Thursday. "Then enters God."

One of the wettest, coldest springs on record means that the grass pollen season is running late - the latest Jacobson said he's ever seen.

Eugene alreadyhas seen some of its trademark heavy pollen days. The National Allergy Bureau classifies anything over 200 grains of pollen per cubic meter as "very high." Since Memorial Day, we've had six days over 200, including June 13 and 14, when pollen was counted at 871 and 913 grains per cubic meter, and Tuesday of this week, when the count hit 520.

Jacobson is hopeful that the numbers will be declining by the time the Trials start.

"Each day that goes by in the games, it's going to get better," he said. "We'll be in a rapidly declining slope."

For athletes allergic to grass pollen, air thick with allergens can cause serious breathing problems.

Jacobson, medical director of the Allergy & Asthma Research Group, said his research found that a 5 percent decline in lung function could be the difference between winning a race or dropping out of a race.

"It's more than just a runny nose," he said. "They could get asthma. When pollens fragment, they could get congestion in the chest. If you congest your nose, you can increase your work of breathing by two or three times. So the work of breathing goes up, and you've lost your competitive edge."

Distance runners stand to lose the most if they're allergic. One time-tested strategy for dealing with grass pollens in the Willamette Valley is to simply stay away as long as possible.

Jim Ryun, one of America's greatest milers, was notoriously allergic, recalled Kenny Moore, a Eugene writer and former Olympic marathoner. Ryun wanted to live and train in Eugene before the 1972 Trials, but "he couldn't breathe here," Moore said.

During the Trials, Ryun lived up the McKenzie River near Blue River. On the day of the 1,500 finals, Ryun warmed up at Tokatee Golf Course, and jumped into a helicopter that landed on the practice field outside Hayward Field five minutes before his race began, Moore said. Ryun won his race and went on to the Munich Olympics.

James Carney, who's competing in the 10,000 meters in this year's Trials, left Eugene for the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in early June, mostly to train at altitude, he said, but also to escape the grass pollens here.

"You can run faster in Eugene because it's at sea level," he said, "but you can't run faster if your lungs are full of pollen."

Some athletes try to protect their airways by wearing surgical-type masks over their noses and mouths. Longtime track coach Dick Brown recalls seeing Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, a long jumper and heptathlete, wearing a mask during a meet at Hayward Field in the mid-1990s.

"I remember her standing in the warm-up area, and she was so frustrated she couldn't breathe right," he said.

Brown, who has been coaching runners in Eugene for 30 years, advises his athletes to see an allergist and start treatment early on.

"If you have allergies and haven't seen an allergist yet, you're in trouble," he said. "If the pollen count is really high, it's going to affect you. It's going to decrease your airways."

Many track athletes go to Jacobson for their allergies. He can offer over-the-counter or prescription antihistamines such as Claritin and Allegra, "but for people with significant grass allergies, it's not going to give them significant relief," he said.

For those athletes, Jacobson can prescribe inhalable asthma medications.

But he first has to run special tests to prove that they indeed have asthma.

That's because many inhalable asthma medications include steroids, a banned substance, and are permitted only by obtaining a therapeutic use exemption from track and field's regulatory bodies, he said.

"We've had 20 more athletes that we have under some sort of therapeutic use for these Trials," he said.

Louis Luchini, an Oregon Track Club Elite runner competing in the 10,000 meters, said he has had allergies all his life. He wears sunglasses when he trains to try to keep the pollens out of his eyes. And he went to Jacobson for his allergies and got a prescription for Allegra and nose drops.

"It really helped a ton," he said. "So far so good."