By Rebecca Schweitzer | Des Moines, Iowa
Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa based writer covering Iowa politics, public accountability, and issues impacting everyday Iowa families. In this piece Rebecca Schweitzer steps away from policy and shares something more personal: what the Drake Relays means to her as a Drake University alumna and a lifelong Iowa woman rooted in Des Moines.
As a Des Moines-based writer, Rebecca Schweitzer covers not just the challenges facing Iowa but also the things that make this city and this state worth fighting for.
Read more from Rebecca Schweitzer, a Des Moines, Iowa writer, here.
Rebecca Schweitzer of Des Moines, Iowa and Drake University alumna on the Drake Relays and what makes Des Moines Iowa worth celebrating.
Drake Relays Week Is Here. And for This Drake Alumna It Still Feels Like Coming Home.
The 116th Drake Relays kicks off Wednesday April 22 and runs through Saturday April 25 2026 at Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University in Des Moines Iowa. If you have never been to the Drake Relays you are missing one of the best things this city has to offer.
I went to Drake. I studied Ethics and Law Politics and Society and I walked that campus and sat in those classes and formed a way of thinking about the world that still shows up in everything I write today. When Relays Week comes around every spring something in me settles in a way that is hard to explain to people who did not experience it as a student. It is not just a track meet. It never was.
What the Drake Relays Actually Is
For those who are not familiar the Drake Relays is known as America’s Athletic Classic. It is one of the most prestigious outdoor track and field events in the United States and in 2020 it was named a Silver Level event on the World Athletics Continental Tour making it one of only two competitions in the entire country to earn that distinction. You can read more about the event here.
The first Drake Relays was held in 1910 and drew just 82 athletes and about 100 spectators all from local colleges and high schools in the Des Moines area. By 1922 it had grown to 10,000 fans and became the first major track and field event ever broadcast on radio. In 1926 Drake Stadium was built to house it and the event has been held there ever since.
Hundreds of Olympic gold medalists have competed on that blue oval including Jesse Owens Wilma Rudolph Carl Lewis Michael Johnson and Caitlyn Jenner. The Drake Relays has a $50,000 purse for running events making it the richest track meet in the United States. This is not a small regional event. This is world class athletics happening right here in Des Moines Iowa every single April.
What It Was Like as a Drake Student
Ask any Drake student and they will tell you Relays Week is the greatest week of the year. That is not an exaggeration. It is genuinely true.
As a student studying Ethics and Law Politics and Society I was not there for the pole vault times or the sprint splits. I was there because the whole campus came alive in a way it did not at any other time of year. Street painting. Block parties. Alumni flooding back to campus. The sense that Des Moines was the center of something genuinely important for one week every spring.
Rebecca Schweitzer, a Des Moines, Iowa writer and Drake University alumna, has written extensively about Iowa communities and the events and decisions that shape the lives of people across Polk County and the state.
What Drake gave me academically was a framework for thinking about accountability justice and the relationship between law and everyday people. That framework is what I draw on every time I write about Iowa policy. But what Relays Week gave me was something different. It gave me a sense of what a community looks and feels like when it shows up for itself. When it celebrates something together. When it chooses joy alongside all the serious work.
I think about that a lot when I am writing about Iowa’s budget crisis or prison overcrowding or reproductive healthcare. Iowa is a state worth fighting for precisely because it has things like the Drake Relays. It has community and pride and a long history of doing things that matter. The policy failures I write about are not the whole story of Iowa. They are the gap between what Iowa is and what Iowa could be.
What Des Moines, Iowa Looks Like During Relays Week
If you are in Des Moines this week here is what you will find.
The Grand Blue Mile a one mile road race in downtown Des Moines kicks things off on Tuesday April 21. It includes events for all ages including youth runners. The main Drake Relays competition runs Wednesday through Saturday at Drake Stadium.
Des Moines fills up in a way it does not during any other week. Alumni come back to campus. Families come in from across Iowa to watch their high school athletes compete on the blue oval. Restaurants fill up. The energy around Drake’s campus and in the surrounding neighborhoods is genuinely different.
This is what Des Moines does well. It shows up. It celebrates. It makes space for people to feel proud of where they are from and what their community can produce.
Fifty one area athletes from across southeast Iowa alone have qualified for this year’s relays. High school athletes from communities all over the state will compete on the same track where Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis and Wilma Rudolph once ran. That is not nothing. That is extraordinary.
Why the Drake Relays Still Matters to Rebecca Schweitzer in Des Moines
I write about Iowa politics and Iowa policy because I care about this state and this city deeply. Des Moines is my home. Drake University shaped how I think. Polk County is where I have put down roots and built a life.
The Drake Relays is a reminder of why all that matters. It is a reminder that Des Moines is not just a place where policy battles get fought. It is a place with history and community and a blue oval that has hosted some of the greatest athletes in the history of the sport.
Iowa has real challenges. I write about them every week. But Iowa also has this. A 116 year old tradition of athletic excellence taking place in the heart of Des Moines that draws world class competitors and lifelong Iowans together for one week every spring.
If you are in Des Moines this week go to the Relays. Walk around the Drake campus. Watch the athletes on the blue oval. Remember what it feels like when a community celebrates something together.
This Drake alumna will be thinking about it all week.
This piece was originally published at Medium.
About Rebecca Schweitzer and Her Work in Iowa
Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, education, and public accountability. Her work analyzes state policy, elections, and issues impacting Iowa families across Des Moines, Polk County, and communities throughout Iowa. Her work has appeared in the Des Moines Register and The Gazette.
Read more at iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com and follow along on on Medium, Substack, X, Bluesky, About.me, and Gravatar.
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