With a new director and a renovated stadium the Drake Relays are set to open on Wednesday with the first day of the multi-events. Brian Brown is in his first year as director and has already won his first race, a 15-million dollar renovation project that needed to be complete in just 11 months.
Brown says at each step the weather cooperated to help keep the project on time. He says he knew they would have a track and a place for people to sit, but he wasn’t sure if they’d have all the other “bells and whistles.”
Among the improvements is a new track with wider lanes and a state of the art surface which Brown predicts will produce some fast times. Brown says he’s been to a lot of venues and says Drake has the best facility in the United States, bar none.
Brown feels all the improvements will help the Drake Relays remain one of the top sporting events in the state. He says he thinks people are proud to compete at Drake and says people will appreciate it when they walk into the stadium.
It all begins tomorrow at noon with the heptathalon. The decathalon begins at 12:30 on Wednesday.