You Are On Native Land

Learn more below, Including about free registration for Indigenous runners

Wonderland Running is proud to offer free race registration to any Indigenous / Native American runners to any of our events.

Any race.

Any distance.

Any year.

Starting in 2024, race registration will be free for all Native American / Indigenous runners. Any race. Any distance. Any year. This was long overdue; not just for Wonderland Running, but for trail racing and sport as a whole. In a world where Indigenous rights and history are still infrequently discussed, we do find utility and educational value in land acknowledgments. But we needed to do something more than just words. This felt like an easy, correct, and just implementation.

Verification:

Each tribe establishes its own membership & enrollment requirements that serve to preserve the unique characteristics of each tribe based on shared history, practices, traditions, language, lineage, and so forth. Wonderland Running offers free race registration for Native American / Indigenous runners.

For the 574 currently federally recognized tribes, tribal enrollment criteria are set forth in the many ordinances, constitutions, articles of incorporation, or other governing rules. The same holds true for tribes still seeking federal recognition. In consideration and respect of that, we will honor any written acknowledgment of any tribe, federally recognized or not, that is provided by a runner from their tribe.

Please note that we do not accept ancestry or genealogical reports or results. We ask for a tribal ID card, tribal enrollment document, or written verification from the runner’s tribe.

Are you a Native American / Indigenous runner? Feel free to email us about your free registration!

Celilo Falls (Wy-am)

“Celilo still reverberates in the heart of every Native American who ever fished or lived by it. They can still see all the characteristics of the waterfall. If they listen, they can still hear its roar. If they inhale, the fragrances of mist and fish and water come back again.”

—Ted Strong of the Yakama Nation

The banner picture on this page is Celilo Falls before it was drowned on March 10, 1957 by the construction of the Dalles Dam.

Prior to that day, Celilo Falls (Wy-am) was the sixth-largest waterfall on Earth by volume. As such, it was also a significant obstacle to anadromous fish making their way up this mighty river. Salmon numbering between 15-20 million fish would make their way up and over the falls every year. It was one of the most profoundly abundant fishing sites in North America. Because of this, it was economically and culturally one of the most important places on the continent for 15,000 years.

The Wishram, a Chinookan-speaking tribe, lived on the side of the river that is now Washington, while the Wasco, a Sahaptin-speaking tribe lived on what is now the Oregon side of the river. The Wishram village of Nix-luidix served as a focal point of trading, negotiation, and ceremony for people near and far. Artifacts discovered in the area of Celilo Falls indicate that tribes from as far away as Alaska, the Olympic Peninsula, the Southwest, and the Great Plains came to the area.

Read more about the story of Celilo Falls at the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission link below:

Celilo Falls: The center of trade and heart of the region’s salmon culture for thousands of years.

A Starting Point For Learning:

Below are but a few resources to learn the stories and history of people that have cared for and called the places where we race home for thousands of years.

A trail racing organization that holds events on stolen lands is the opposite of a good resource for Indigenous history. As such, it is important to note that these are just starting points to what should be a lifelong journey of learning the full history of these lands, and for unlearning narratives that are incomplete, inaccurate, or outright colonialist regarding United States history.

Below are links to tribes whose lands we hold races upon.

Please click the images to learn more:

Coyote Wall Trail Races & Three Corner Rock PCT 50K: