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Forum Member
 
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Last Login: 2 days ago @ 6:43:18 PM
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| ...a confluence of several forces through the late 1970s and early 80's helped make the Penn Relays, which first ran in 1895, what it has become today.
From the deregulation of the airlines, allowing air fares to become more affordable for schools to travel to Penn from farther distances, to the breakdown of the former Midwest Triple Crown of track & field, to Eastern coaches migrating and spreading the word of the Penn Relays westward.
All had a significant impact on making the Penn Relays something special.
"With the airlines, a lot of the schools ... started coming in that hadn't been here. Then they started recruiting Jamaicans and other Caribbeans, and when (those athletes) went to those schools, they wanted to come back (to the Penn Relays)," Johnson said.
There was also a point during that time period when the Kansas Relays, the second jewel of the Midwest Triple Crown and held between meets at Texas and at Drake, "had some difficulties," according to Johnson. With Drake and Penn competing on the same weekend, over time, the prestige of the triple crown faded and more and more intercollegiate squads began heading east to Penn.
"When Kansas started having problems ... that allowed for some teams to come to Penn that normally would have gone to Drake," Johnson said. "Beyond that, you had some coaches moving out of the normal Penn drawing area. And Eastern coaches started migrating West. Those major factors all happening at pretty much the same time really catapulted us forward."
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=19513647&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8 |
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Last Login: 6/11/2008 11:19:20 PM
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| Unfortunately, what the Penn, Eugene, Sacaramento crew don't understand is that if all the great performers and teams go only to meets at these places, those places will be the only ones that will have meets.
The wealth needs to be spread in some manner. Even with NCAA regionals and finals being hosted by Drake, it really hasn't caused the elite university teams to come to the Drake Relays. A few throwers and jumpers from Tennessee and Texas Tech are nice, but the bright lights and $ of Penn is clearly hurting the Drake event.
As we approach the 100th running of the Drake Relays, what sort of $$ commitment does Drake need to attract some of these teams? What can be done? How will Drake communicate that need to the community?
The best may be yet to come, but what is the plan to get there?
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