High school track and field athletes from all over Georgia will be converging on Roswell High School this weekend for the annual Roswell Rotary Relays.
With them will come hordes of family members, coaches and spectators.
“You get to see some quality athletes up close and personal,” said Rotarian Elwyn Gaissert. “Colleges come to do recruiting. It’s a well-known event throughout the state.”
The Relays are “one of the biggest track meets in the state, “Roswell High School Principal Ed Spurka “We have an eight-lane track and that really brings in top-notch kids.”
Staging and managing an event this size is a significant undertaking. For more than a decade, volunteers from Roswell Rotary have been meeting that challenge.
“[The Relays] really began in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s when the Roswell Jaycees held it,” said Gaissert, who grew up in Roswell and ran track at Roswell High. “When the Jaycees disbanded, it fell by the wayside. Then 13 years ago someone from the school came to the Rotary Club and said if we could have some involvement, they thought they could get the event going again.”
For nine of those 13 years, until this year when he became the club’s president elect, Gaissert coordinated volunteers or headed the event committee. This year, although he will still be one of the volunteers, he turned the reins over to Rotarian Bruce Smith.
Volunteer Amateur Athletic Union officials run the events, but Roswell High service club volunteers and Rotarians assist. Roswell High track and field coach Andy Schultz said the Relays have an excellent reputation because of the volunteers’ contributions.
“Overall, it’s a quality meet because of how well it’s been run over the past years,” Schultz said.
It takes 75 to 80 volunteers to manage the event, Gaissert said. “We do announcements, monitor lane changes and baton changes, help run the broad jump, high jump and triple jump, discus and all other field events, and provide water for the athletes,” Gaissert said.
Around a dozen volunteers also man the hospitality suite for coaches, AAU officials and volunteers. Food and drink is provided by Rotarians with connections to restaurants and food and beverage suppliers.
“If you asked some of the coaches, I wouldn’t be surprised if the hospitality suite didn’t help us draw teams because the coaches really like it,” Spurka said with a chuckle.
Rotarians provide the sweat equity needed to hold the meet, but Roswell High School gets the net proceeds from gate receipts and refreshment sales. “The money collected goes back into scholarship dollars for seniors and for some of the projects sponsored by the track and football programs,” Spurka said.
Last year the school realized between $8,000 and $10,000 from the event, the principal said.
Labels: relays, roswell high school, roswell rotary
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Brian Vanderhoff @ 6:54 AM
