A new era begins for the Drake Relays this week. A new multi-year sponsorship from Hy-Vee has allowed the event to attract many of the top performers of the 2012 London Olympics. Drake Relays director Brian Brown says it has resulted in full fields and has put Drake on par with the Penn Relays which are always the same weekend in Philadelphia.
“There’s a lot of folks who want in who are not in, and that’s what you want, you want it to be something that people are vying for,” Brown says. He says they have a good rivalry with the other relays.
Brown says with involvement of Hy-Vee the Drake Relays will no longer be considered the “little brother” to the Penn Relays. He says it is important to have strong partners to be able to “present excellence all the time.”
The Drake Relays begin Tuesday with the running of the Grand Blue Mile in downtown Des Moines.