In only two years of existence, the MileStat.com Elite Track Classic has quickly become one of the Virginia’s largest high school outdoor track & field meets with both years having over 70 schools attending and a range of 1,200 to 1,400 athletes competing in the late April invitational at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Virginia. Meet director Brandon Miles is proud to announce for the third annual event to be held on April 29th & 30th, 2011, there will have two new sponsorship partners which will certainly help the meet grow and expand this year as well as hopefully continue to prosper for future years.
The Richmond-based (located in Carytown) Roadrunner Running Store and the shoe company adidas will become presenting and title sponsors for this year’s event as the meet will officially be re-named to the adidas MileStat.com Elite Track Classic presented by the Roadrunner Running Store. Both sponsors will be present and visibly active at the meet venue promoting and selling products as well as adding to the overall meet atmosphere. Travis Jones of adidas commented on his company's new involvement with the 2011 MileStat.com Elite Track Classic: "As both a former area high school runner and fan of the sport, I could think of nothing better than to partner with MileStat.com and Roadrunner. Adidas is a fast brand and the MileStat.com Track Classic consistently produces fast times and outstanding field event performances so this partnership is only natural." More announcements and information in relation to sponsors and what their presence will specifically add to the meet will be forthcoming over the next month.
Meet management is very excited about the new partnership with the Roadrunner Running Store and adidas. “The first two years, our focus has been to run one of the most efficient and exciting meets for Virginia high school track programs in the spring. The number of returning teams last year and similar number of teams coming back in 2011 should attest to our meet being an enjoyable and new favorite event for these coaches and programs,” said meet director Brandon Miles. “However, the additional help and presence of adidas and the Roadrunner Running Store is exactly what this meet has needed to allow it to grow and take it to the next level as far as overall meet experience for athletes, coaches, spectators, and officials.”
The original vision of creating this meet was to host a meet which high school teams would be able to enter more athletes than typical invitational meets in events which they are deeper at one of the state’s best and largest outdoor track & field facilities. The distance oriented teams would get more distance runners into the meet, while a deep sprints team would be able to enter more athletes in the sprint events. This meet is not only perfect for top tier athletes looking to post state qualifying times and mark but also the next tier group of athletes attempting to qualify for the regional or district meet as well as simply post a new season or personal best.
Hosting the relay events on the first day has been a very popular move among coaches and athletes as teams have taken advantage of the narrow focus on Friday to load up their relays for qualifying and season best times, especially in a rare chance to run the 4x400 fresh. The focus on Saturday is narrowed and simple as well with only individual events being offered.
This year’s meet format will have a few changes with Friday’s events moving over to Sports Backers Stadium from Maggie Walker Governor’s School. The first day’s schedule of events will now some field events (long jump and discus) and developmental races for future year’s stars in the 1600 and 200, who were unable to meet the qualify standards for Saturday‘s individual races. If the developmental division is well received this year, there is potential for this division to expand with more events in the future years.
Despite the large fields in the previous two years for the MileStat.com Elite Track Classic, the meet have been run as an efficient and timely event which has finished well before 5 PM on Saturday in the 2009 and 2010 events. This is a testament to a great crew of locals officials for the meet with a great timing crew services of the Atlantic Coast Timing Systems, based in the Tidewater area.
The meet has been open for online registration on MileStat.com since the indoor season and 37 schools have already entered despite the deadline not being until April 25th. Direct link to meet information and online registration can be found at https://va.milesplit.com/meets/80646 .
Link to highlights video from last year's meet