On Saturday, I covered the Gene Kobus Perry Relays.
The meet started at 9:30 a.m. and didn't end until 6 p.m.
Final running events were scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m., but did not start until around 1:30 p.m. The first event - the shuttle hurdles - took about 45 minutes to run.
To Perry's credit, they were running two divisions - 'A' and 'B' - so instead of a regular invitational where you have two finals (boys and girls) there were actually four final races. A few of the races were combined, but not nearly enough.
The meet just took entirely too long.
I'm sure it's not easy to run a meet, and I'm sure there is a lot that goes into it. I'm also sure it takes a ton of willing volunteers to make things run smoothly and it didn't appear as if Perry had very many volunteers.
I will say meet manager Rob Renau did everything he possibly could to be in two places at once. If he wasn't in the press box, he was at the finish line or the starting line. He was always somewhere trying to move the meet along.
But he needed more help.
For a meet to last 8 1/2 hours is just not necessary. It's especially not good for the athletes who could be prone to injuries in the cold.
I'm sure Perry will reevaluate the meet for next year and hopefully, they will get more volunteers to help.
Without a solid core of volunteers, a meet can't be successful.

-Theresa Neuhoff Audia