More than seven thousand athletes will be competing at the 103rd Drake Relays and several may end up competing at the Olympic Games in London this summer. Relays director Brian Brown says he is happy with the list of Olympic hopefuls who will compete.
“There were some names on my list initially that I wish were here now,” Brown says. He says there were a lot of reasons why some couldn’t come from injuries, to scheduling, and some were bound by their Nike contract to go to the Penn Relays.
Brown says there will be a number of competitors at Drake who will become well known once the Olympics are finished. “I always like to see the field maybe stacked a little bit from top to bottom, but what we’ll find is those athletes that we’ve researched and put into an event, they are some of the no names now perhaps that you will have heard of after competing in the Olympic games,” Brown says.
One of the highlights this week will be Wallace Spearmon’s attempt to run the first 200 under 20 seconds. Brown says having run at Drake before will give Spearmon a chance. Brown says familiarity if very important and he says Spearman’s past appearances give him an advantage of know the track.
It could be wet and cold this weekend but Brown says for the most part the athletes don’t mind. “for those who have come previously, they think it’s the Drake Relays. For those who it might be their first time they think ‘wow I can’t believe all these people are still here’,” Brown says. He says there are a lot of fans who will show up with the rain gear and be prepared regardless of the weather.