Gold Zone highlights Relays

By By Patrick Shehan (Contact)

Thursday, April 21, 2005

There will be two kinds of people this weekend: people who are at the Gold Zone, and people who will lie about being there. At least that’s what Kansas Relays meet director Tim Weaver thinks.

In a radio interview two years ago, Weaver was asked, “If a person has three or four hours to go to the Kansas Relays, what should they see?”

Weaver had no answer. He concluded that two 12-hour days of track didn’t appeal to a sports fan anymore. The problem was condensing the most important events into a shorter period of time.

“I’m not just talking about the Relays as a sporting event,” Weaver said. “I’m talking about entertainment. Movies, plays and concerts all last around three hours.”

Weaver’s emotions were cemented when he visited the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, Switzerland.

“There were 25,000 going crazy like in an NFL game for three hours on a Friday night,” Weaver said. “I just knew we had to incorporate something like this in the relays.”

Thus, Weaver invented the Gold Zone, a three-hour event from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday.

In one aspect, the Gold Zone is exclusive: Only the best collegiate and unattached athletes may compete. In other aspects, the Gold Zone will be an exhibition of Olympic talent. Weaver met with Athletics Director Lew Perkins earlier this year and set a goal of having 15 Olympians.

At the moment, he has more than doubled that expectation. Seven gold medalists, 12 silver medalists and 22 other Olympians round out the field.

Kansas legends Pat Manson and Charlie Gruber will compete. Missouri graduate and their former rival, Derrick Peterson, will compete. And world-renowned celebrities such as Marion Jones, Maurice Greene and Stacy Dragila will compete.

Local newspapers have reported that the Athletics Department has spent about $100,000 to accommodate all the athletes.

Josh Meyers, a chairman for the student relay committee, said that economically, this year was much different from others in the past.

“This year we just decided that in order to make money, you have to spend money,” he said.

The Gold Zone, though a new concept for the Relays, still won’t take away from the decades of tradition.

“We have an enriched tradition at the KU Relays,” Perkins said. “And I’m very proud of that.”

The Gold Zone, as well as the rest of the Kansas Relays, is free to students with a KUID.

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