Brooks PR Invitational moving outdoors

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

 
After three years of enticing many of the nation's best track athletes to Seattle in the middle of February, Brooks is moving its PR Invitational outside.

In an interview with DyeStat, Brooks Sports Marketing Manager Jesse Williams outlined the reasons for moving the event to June 21 and Renton Memorial Stadium.

"For us, we felt very confident in how the meet played out for the first three years. It took off quicker than we thought," Williams said. "But it's February, and we want to see the athletes run at their best, we want to see them running amazing times and breaking records. How cool would it be to see (someone) run sub-four (for the boys mile) or sub-10 (for the girls two-mile)? It has to happen outdoors."

To its credit, Brooks has been successful bringing elite national-caliber fields to its first three meets. And the company has rolled out the red carpet, providing a level of hospitality to the athletes that rivals Nike Cross Nationals, Foot Locker or the adidas Grand Prix.

The meet has been constructed of a bare-bones six events for boys and girls: the 60-meter dash and hurdles, the 400, the 800, the mile and the two-mile.

And because the fields have been so strong, the PR Invite has made a significant impact on the yearly indoor list. The highlight was Donovan Robertson's national record in the 60 hurdles (7.57 seconds) in 2012 and Shayla Sanders' No. 2 all-time 60 dash (7.21), also in 2012.

The longer races included some historical performances but were usually relegated to a sub-list for oversized tracks because the University of Washington's Dempsey Indoor is a 307-meter flat track.

"Dempsey is a great facility but it was a little rough for spectators," Williams said.

There was room for 2,500 spectators but it was not easy to see the action.

At Renton Memorial Stadium, located south of Seattle, there is covered grandstand seating for 6,500. The plan for this year is to offer the same events (the dashes and hurdles will become 100/110 meters).

And it will remain a high school-only event.

"We keep thinking we want to showcase high school athletes and keep the focus on them," Williams said.

The most likely addition to event order would be a boys 4x1600 or 4xmile relay. That's a possibility because nearby Gig Harbor, the NXN boys champion, might target a national record attempt. At this stage, that is merely a possibility. There are no plans to add field events as of yet, but they could be added in later years as the meet evolves.

The timing of the event seems like it could work. The weekend prior is loaded, with New Balance Nationals Outdoor, the New England Championships, adidas Grand Prix and Portland Track Festival all falling on the schedule June 13-15.

The week following has the Golden West Invitational folded into the U.S. Championships in Sacramento. The U.S. junior dates have not been announced by USATF but are expected to be July 5-6 in Eugene, Ore.

Even though some the largest state meets will be well over by June 21 (the final state meets are June 7), there is plenty of incentive for top athletes to stick with it or gear their training to peak later. The IAAF World Juniors is coming to Eugene for the first time July 22-27.

"Our biggest concern was setting a date," Williams said. "We picked a date that conflicted the least and is sandwiched in there with a lot of meets. Ours is not a championship event. It's all about running fast. I think the kids are drawn to that."

Some athletes will have difficult choices to make navigating the postseason, but Williams said "we are hoping to get 95 percent of the individuals we want."

One advantage to holding the meet in late June is that Brooks can select and invite athletes who emerge during the spring season.

Invitations will begin to go out as early as this month, Williams said.

Between now and June, meet organizers will continue to try to build the best event possible. That includes the goal of trying to sellout a 6,500-seat grandstand.

"We want to make it as fun and cool as possible," Williams said. "We want it to be exciting for (the athletes)."