Tim Weaver believes April 23 will be a red-letter day in the history of the Kansas Relays.

“There will be two groups of people — those who were there to witness the first Gold Zone and those who will lie about having been there,” Weaver, Relays meet director, said Wednesday at a news conference in which he revealed a list of 75 champions to compete in the inaugural Gold Zone portion of the Relays.

The Gold Zone, which will feature world class athletes running the most popular track events, will be 2-5 p.m. April 23. The three-hour format was designed to make the 78th Relays one of the most memorable in history.

Featured athletes will include Olympic champions and world record setters Maurice Green, Marion Jones and Stacy Dragila, plus Olympic champions Allen Johnson, Nick Hysong, Inger Miller and Savatheda Fynes. Local Olympians include Muna Lee of Kansas City, Charlie Gruber of Lawrence, Derrick Peterson of Columbia, Mo., and Melvin Lister of Leavenworth.

“We brought to (KU athletic director) Lew Perkins the goal of three Olympic champions and 15 total Olympians,” Weaver said. “We’ve now doubled both of those numbers. I can’t imagine what the Relays record list will look like after this. I can tell you there will be ‘2005’ after a lot of events in next year’s record book.”

Perkins was on hand Wednesday to declare his support for the event.

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“I feel very strongly, with the help of Tim and Stanley (Redwine, KU coach), we have put together one of the best fields of any Relays, any time, any place,” Perkins said. “We have the caliber of athletes people will enjoy watching.”