Brooks Sports announces Brooks PR Invitational at the Dempsey, plus more on USATF vs Doug Logan...

BROOKS FORMALLY ANNOUNCES THE BROOKS PR INVITATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL MEET AT THE DEMPSEY

Bothell's Brooks Sports, Inc. (www.brooksrunning.com) announced the upcoming Brooks PR Invitational, a unique, indoor track meet for the fastest high school runners in the U.S.

Taking place on Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011, at the Dempsey Indoor track on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, the Brooks PR Invitational will give qualifying high school athletes the chance to run fast, break their own PRs, and compete against the best of the best.

Qualified athletes will test their speeds on one of the fastest indoor tracks in the country in one of the chosen Brooks PR Invitational events: 60m, 60m Hurdles, 400m, 800m, 1600m, and the 2 mile. Each event will feature eight to 12 of the best high school runners nationwide.

The Brooks PR Invitational will occur just weeks after the launch of Brooks' new PR spike collection and a "Name This Spike" promotion anchored on these new competition styles. Throughout 2011, the fastest male and female high school time run in each of three spikes in Brooks' PR collection--the PR LD (pictured above/photo courtesy Brooks), PR MD, and PR Sprint--will become the new name of that respective spike in 2012. For instance, if the fastest time in the mile by a male high school athlete wearing the PR LD is 4:08, the new name in 2012 for the men's PR LD will be the PR 4:08.

"In high school, it's all about running a personal record or a 'PR'. The Brooks PR Invitational is the perfect venue for PRs to be run, and for the PR spike collection's 'Name This Spike' contest to be brought to life," said Jesse Williams, sports marketing manager at Brooks. "We want to give these promising athletes the opportunity to compete against their peers in a one-of-a-kind event at one of the best track facilities in the country."

To give all high school runners and fans the opportunity to experience the Brooks PR Invitational, Brooks will partner with Flotrack to stream the meet live on meet day. From 1 to 4 p.m. PST on Sunday, Feb. 27, viewers can catch all the action at www.flotrack.org.

THE PLOT THICKENS IN THE DOUG LOGAN VS. USA TRACK & FIELD CASE...

Just when you thought things are getting ugly, now comes this revelation, courtesy of our friends at letsrun.com

USA Track & Field late last week filed a counterclaim for declaratory judgment and damages against former CEO Doug Logan, whom the federation fired late this past summer.

To summarize the response, USATF claims that a) it fired Logan with cause, as he's supposed to serve at the direction of their Board of Directors, and he wasn't doing so, and b) after termination, they found some improprieties that would have resulted in his firing with cause, including tax evasion allegations, expense report abuse, and reports of Logan providing improper gifts to a female athlete.

You can read the letsrun.com story here.

Now, I'm not a lawyer, nor did I play one on television, but I once stayed at a Holiday Inn Express!

Having said that, this sounds like some posturing on the federation's side to get out of paying whatever Logan is owed.

If there are any lawyers out there who wish to chime in on this (the letsrun.com article has links to the legal documents filed by both parties in this case), please do so in the comments section.

HOUSEKEEPING NOTE

With the Christmas and New Year's holiday converging upon us, posts between now and the end of 2010 will be sporadic; however, the annual Mercanator awards list will be posted on December 31st!

On that note, I would like to wish each and every one of you a joyous holiday!

NOTE: The media relations department at Brooks Sports, along with letsrun.com contributed material for this piece.

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