Details of 2017 TrackTown Summer Series released

By Romaine Soh for DyeStat

The Tracktown Summer Series, an idea aimed at creating a professional team track competition, made its debut last year with one meet at Hayward Field.

In 2017, there will be three meets held across the country, consisting of two regional meets and a championship meet. The regional meets will be held June 29 in San Francisco (location TBD) and July 2 in Portland at Mt. Hood Community College. The championship meet will be held in New York at Icahn Stadium.

Hayward Field will not host the Series this time because it will be undergoing renovations in preparation for the 2021 IAAF World Championships.

"We don't want to do anything that might hold up the construction,” Tracktown USA president Vin Lananna said Tuesday.

Four teams of 36 athletes – representing Portland, Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco – will participate in scored competition as they battle to hoist the championship trophy and earn prize money plus benefits.

The Series was founded to create more opportunities for professional athletes to race on local ground, in turn boosting visibility of the sport nationwide with ESPN staying on as the official broadcaster.

Last year, 31 Olympians took part in the Series, and kids were able to sit on the infield to get a close-up view of the triple jump, shot put and pole vault. This allowed the athletes to interact with spectators in a unique fashion, unlike most other championship races where spectators are confined to the stands.

The Series is one of the final chances for U.S. athletes to gear up on home soil before they head to the European circuit or the IAAF World Championships in London (Aug. 4-13).