Whispers have been circulating around the state, but luckily, somehow they have escaped mention on the forum. The flrunners.com Invitational is moving to a new venue.
Actually, it is more of a familiar friend than a new acquaintance. I finally made the decision late Tuesday night to bring the meet, at least for 2006, back to Ed Radice Park in Tampa. Some of you coaches, but few of the current high school runners, will remember the first Night of Champions in 2002 that Bobby Ennis created at Ed Radice. It was a magical night and we hope to bring that sparkle back this year.
We will be moving back to a single day format: all of our races are scheduled for Friday night, capped off by our elite races. In order to accommodate so many races in one night, I had to get creative. We will structure the course so that we can start a race every 20 minutes, as we did at Little Everglades last year. In 2005 we had 19 races; that will be scaled back to 15. The Varsity Open division will be gone, as will the Community 5K, and we will combine the middle school boys and girls into one two mile race. High school varsity teams should adjust accordingly by getting your entries in as soon as possible—since we are cutting out one division we may fill up, first come first serve.
So now I know the three questions that come next: "Why? ", "What about the state meet?" and "What about next year?"
We really loved hosting the event at Little Everglades last year, it is a beautiful place. However, unfortunately, the costs and logistics of hosting the event there necesitated us to move to a different venue.
Officially, at this time Denarvise tells me the FHSAA State Meet is staying at Little Everglades Ranch. It is unclear, though, who will be the host school this year and the details are still being negotiated. However, I am not involved in those discussions nor that decision. As soon as official word comes down from the FHSAA, we will report it here.
Beyond this year, there is nothing in stone yet. I feel that a good role for the flrunners.com Invitational is doubling as the Prestate meet, so I hope that in 2007 we will serve in that capacity again. In Titusville there is a great new facility that is almost completed, built specifically for cross country, that should be putting in a bid for the state meet in 2007. We have already been working with them on this possibility, toured the course, talked to local officials, and certainly that is a strong possibility for the future. However, at this point we're just taking it one day at a time!
I am very excited about our meet this year! The night meet creates a very unique atmosphere that many remember fondly. As you know we always do, my team and I are going to bring you a truly top-notch meet and the best competition you will see all year in the elite races. We also have some guests joining us from several states, adding to the excitement.
I am counting on the continued support from all over the state. This has been a difficult decision for us, but we know we have done what is best for this year's meet. The meet is the primary fundraiser for the site all year. I hope you all will again bring your teams to the meet to help support flrunners.com and to secure the future of the web site and the meet.
More Information: Visit the meet homepage at www.flrunners.com/invitational