Next month’s Drake Relays will be the last for long-time director Bob Ehrhart who has announced his retirement after 31-years on the job. He says he wanted to have one more year Olympic year directing the relays before he retired and moved on to other things.Ehrhart took the job at Drake after serving as track coach at Northwestern University. He says he came for a little while and stayed for 31 years.During Ehrhart’s tenure, the number of college teams and participants in the Relays has more than doubled. Ehrhart says he just tried to keep the college and high school events strong while adding in a few Olympic athletes to keep things interesting.Ehrhart believes the future of the event remains bright because it continues to draw fans. He says the stadium provides a great venue and the fan support makes it exciting for athletes to run.Ehrhart will remain on as a consultant for the 2001 Drake Relays.

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