The following article originally appeared in Runner’s World. To see the original article and other content, click here.
Days before the Music City Distance Carnival in August, meet director Dave Milner received texts of encouragement and good luck from fellow race organizers around the country. After months of navigating safety regulations, travel restrictions, and facility shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they all understood the stress he was under from hosting an elite track meet in 2020.
Now, that same group of meet directors are working together to launch a new professional circuit called the Pro Track Series.
Milner, along with Jesse Williams and Abby Stanley of Sound Running, Craig Rice of Portland Track, Blake Bolden of Drake Relays, and Nick Dwyer and Max Paquette of the Ed Murphey Classic plan to host a formal track season, running from May to August 2021. Athletes will compete against each other for prize money through a point system at six established meets and one new event—the Iowa High Performance.
As the schedule stands now, the series will kick off with the Track Meet in Los Angeles on May 14, 2021. The next event will be the Portland Track Festival on May 29, followed two days later by the inaugural Iowa High Performance meet in Des Moines on May 31. The next event will be the Music City Carnival on June 5 in Nashville.
The series will take a brief pause for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials scheduled for June 18 to 27, 2021 in Eugene, Oregon, and return with the Under Armour Sunset Tour on July 10 in Los Angeles. The second Sunset Tour competition will take place on July 17, also in Los Angeles. The season will conclude with the Ed Murphey Classic in Memphis on August 14.
“We need an actual formal season, and we need it to be convenient for athletes, something to build a fan base,” Williams told Runner’s World.
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