Typically the weekend of the Penn Relays marks the coming out of the majority of those athletes not yet seen in a given season as sprinters, hurdlers,  and even  milers find their way on “USA v the World” relay squads. And while that most certainly will be true again this year – that we see many of the worlds’ best athletes participating at Penn – this weekend could actually begin the process early with several meets showcasing elite athletes.

Take the UTech Classic in Jamaica where athletes from Jamaica’s top two track clubs – MVP and Racers – will be taking to the track to get their seasons kicked off. In the grand scheme of sprinting in London this will be an important outing if for no other reason than we will get to see Usain Bolt. Not that there aren’t other important athletes in the meet, I’ll get to them in a minute, but if you recall Usain has put his debut off a couple of times and there were early rumors of injury. With the recent revelation that American Tyson Gay has had some injury issues early that have slowed his training, I’m curious to see the condition of Mr. Bolt this weekend.

He is listed to run in the 4×1 with teammate Yohan Blake against an MVP squad that should have Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter. So we should get a glimpse of the athletes that most likely will fill the majority of lanes in the 100 meter final of the Jamaican Trials. Blake and Powell are also scheduled for individual events – Blake the 100 and Powell the 200 – which will give us some results to talk about later this weekend. Of course between them Racers and MVP have the bulk of the islands top athletes so we will also get a peek at Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce and Melaine Walker among others.

Here in the US at the Rafer Johnson / JJK Invitational another group of sprinters and hurdlers will be debuting on the UCLA track. Carmelita Jeter and Walter Dix are both entered in the 200 meters so we should get a good taste of their early season fitness. Dix’ debut will be especially interesting given the recent performances of Wallace Spearmon. Joining Dix in the deuce will be World Champion hurdler Jason Richardson, taking a big step out of his comfort zone. Of course hurdlers often do well in the deuce – Renaldo Nehemiah immediately coming to mind. Also taking big steps outside of their comfort zones will be twin sprinters Lisa & Miki Barber who will take on the 400 meters in their early season preparation. But the name that really jumped out at me was long/triple jumper Will Claye’s entry in the 100 meters. Looks like Will is working on his speed!

So is former University of Florida teammate Christian Taylor, who is entered in the 100 meters at the Seminole Invitational in Florida. Taylor’s no stranger to sprinting as he ran relays at Florida and was known to run a 400 or two – 45.34 best and 20.76 in the deuce. Now he’ll put a 100 time to go with his all around skills. It will be part of a long jump / 100 double as he will go head to head with former Seminole and NCAA champion Ngoni Makusha in the long jump.

There is the usual full slate of relay meets this weekend and I’m sure there will be some surprising performances over the next few days. Especially with the weekend extending to Monday and the Boston Marathon. If you remember last year’s race produced a WR – or not. You see Boston is unique in that it doesn’t go “in a circle” or even an “out and back” it’s a “point to point” course that travels in a relatively straight line – as straight as you can go through 26.2 miles of a city. The result is that Boston’s races last year were considered “wind aided” and therefore did not receive record consideration! Now THAT is one long sprint. And what I want to know is just how long and steady does a wind have to blow for the race to be considered wind aided? What’s the cutoff for mps – meters per second? And really just how much “aid” is there in a race of that length? I mean, if you’re still on your feet at the end of 26 miles isn’t that worth the record?

The more I’ve thought about this race over the last year, trying to create tight regulations for marathons is almost impossible. It’s not like your standard track where you can control all the elements that compose a track – and therefore can apply a set of rules as to what constitutes a record. The only thing “standard” about the marathon is it’s length. Everything else is subject to natural physical conditions. Changes in elevation are all different. Number of turns is different. Running surfaces aren’t consistent. All of that is part of the challenge of the race. So maybe the sport should do the right thing and simply reward the athletes for accepting and completing the challenge – as fast as they can on any given course!

I remember the Atlanta Olympics and the super hard and super fast track that was created for the event. Athletes ran times in Atlanta that many never came close to again outside of the summer of 1996 as the track was taken apart and others never got a chance to compete there again. The track in Athens was next, becoming the venue that sprinters loved because they knew the opportunity to PR was high. There are tracks that seem to be conducive to fast sprints. Some that seem to produce great distance results. That’s the nature of the sport. If there are some marathon courses that, because of design and conditions, produce better marks than others then that’s just par for the course – pun intended. Some tracks are known for records in different events, why not marathon courses? Besides, 26.2 miles is too far to go to say “oops” the wind blew a little too hard today. Really?