photo by: Nick Krug

Representatives from USA Track & Field visited Lawrence Monday, Sept. 12, 2016 in an effort to further plan for the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic Championships in July. The event is expected to attract about 40,000 people to Lawrence.

Ten months before runners take their marks, hundreds of hotel rooms in Lawrence have already been booked in anticipation of the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic Championships. With about 40,000 people due to converge on the city for the event, competitors aren’t the only ones planning ahead.

USA Track & Field staff are visiting Lawrence Monday and Tuesday, where they will be reviewing the site plan for the weeklong event, which will be held at Rock Chalk Park in July. The Junior Olympics are expected to draw about 9,500 athletes and 33,000 family members and spectators to Lawrence.

USA Track & Field leaders are here to make sure the city will be ready to host the track meet and to accommodate the crowds elsewhere in the city.

“It starts from the time we get to Kansas to the time we leave; it’s a never-ending story,” said Robin Brown-Beamon, USA Track & Field’s director of outreach. “…It’s a lot of people. You’re a small city, and this is a lot of moving parts and moving bodies.”

Brown-Beamon said the event is a “full-service operation.” In addition to planning logistics for the track meet itself, restaurant, hotel, parking, transportation and medical services all need to be prepped for an influx of people, she said. The event will also require 150 officials and up to 200 volunteers.

City leaders are working to create awareness about the event by meeting with various city departments and officials at the University of Kansas, said Bob Sanner, sports director of eXplore Lawrence.

Because Lawrence has only about 1,400 hotel rooms, the city is making arrangements with nearby cities, such as Topeka and Overland Park, to accommodate guests. eXplore Lawrence recently launched a Junior Olympics accommodation page, where athletes and their families can search hotels in Lawrence and surrounding areas by distance to Rock Chalk Park and by cost.

Sanner said three of Lawrence’s hotels — Marriott TownePlace Suites, SpringHill Suites and the Holiday Inn Express & Suites — are already completely booked for the duration of the event.

“The first wave of requests — the booking of the rooms — started while we were in Sacramento (for the 2016 Junior Olympics),” Sanner said.

As part of their preparation to host the event, Sanner and other event organizers visited this year’s Junior Olympics. Sanner said those observations helped them to better understand the event and its crucial elements, such as ensuring ample food and drinks are available for event staff.

“I think what I walked away with is don’t check common sense at the door,” Sanner said. “…When it comes to food and hydration and 100-plus-degree weather, you don’t skimp on the water and you don’t skimp on the Gatorade, because without officials you don’t have a meet.”

The city was one of two finalists for the bid and was officially selected as the host in December. After a bid presentation at its convention in Houston, USA Track & Field youth chairs selected Lawrence over Des Moines, Iowa. Sanner said it’s a unique event for Lawrence.

“Junior Olympics is dramatically different from a collegiate event, and it’s not even close to what a high school event is,” Sanner said. “It’s literally as many as eight track meets going on at the same time because you have different age groups.”

As part of their visit to Lawrence, Brown-Beamon and six other USA Track & Field staff — ranging from the youth department to marketing — will make their first visit to Rock Chalk Park. There, they will begin the logistical planning to ensure the event runs smoothly.

“We’re on a fact-finding mission and here to offer our services,” Brown-Beamon said. “The hard work is done: we’re coming. We’re just here to look at the facility, offer our services, offer our suggestions and make sure that you guys are ready. This is our premier youth event.”

Brown-Beamon said she and other USA Track & Field staff will make a second visit to Lawrence in early summer 2017, as the event draws closer. The weeklong meet will be from July 24 to July 30.