Interview with David Peterson, pt. 2

Just published by the University of Iowa Press, The Drake Relays: America's Athletic Classic is a selection from nearly forty years of photographs of the famed track meet by Pulitzer-Prize-winning photographer David Peterson. Here, Peterson talks to UI Press editor Catherine Cocks about what the relays have meant to him as a runner and a photographer.

Lolo Jones winning at Drake in 2005

CC: Which track-and-field event do you find most challenging to photograph well?

DP: I would have to say the pole vault, because there are so many different angles you can take. The pole vault in the Jordon Creek Town Center Mall, which Drake added a few years back, opened up a whole different angle, as I was able to view it from above by photographing from the second level of the mall. I could also get very close to the cross bar and shoot the event with a wider lens—something that was impossible to do at Drake Stadium.

Kip Janvrin

CC: Do you have a favorite image among those included in the book? If so, what’s so special about it for you?

DP: My favorite image is a very subtle one, but a photo loaded with content. It shows former Iowa high school and Drake University miler Matt Gabrielson extending his hand to Olympian and world champion Bernard Lagat after the Special Mile in 2004 (p. 36). Gabrielson wasn’t a world-class miler like Lagat, but he got the opportunity of a lifetime to compete on the same track in the same race with one of his idols. Only at the Drake Relays can Iowa kids take that journey from a small rural high school to being on a grand stage with Olympians.

Interview with David Peterson, pt. 1

Just published by the University of Iowa Press, The Drake Relays: America's Athletic Classic is a selection from nearly forty years of photographs of the famed track meet by Pulitzer-Prize-winning photographer David Peterson. Here, Peterson talks to UI Press editor Catherine Cocks about what the relays have meant to him as a runner and a photographer.

Athlete Kip Janvrin with his five-year-old son Mason

CC: What did the Drake Relays mean to you as a college athlete?

DP: The Drake Relays was one of the premiere meets of the year, second only in importance to our Big 8 conference championships. It was the third and final event of the “relays circuit,” which included the Texas Relays, the Kansas Relays, and the Drake Relays. The competition was better at Drake than at the other two meets because it also included teams from the Big 10 and a few from the west coast as well. It was also a chance to compete for the “grand slam” in a relay event (winning the same event at Texas, Kansas, and Drake), which my teammates and I accomplished twice, winning the two-mile relay “grand slam” in 1969 and 1970.

Coach Dena Evans with her nine-month-old daughter Adrienne

CC: What was it like to come back to the relays as a photographer after having competed there?

DP: It was an unexpected pleasure, because when I graduated from Kansas State, where I competed in track, I wasn't really certain of what my career path would be. Once I figured that out, the opportunity to be a newspaper photographer opened up that Drake Relays door again for me—experiencing it from a totally different perspective.

The Drake Relays, April 23 - 27

The Drake Relays start in Des Moines on Wednesday! To start preparing yourself, enjoy these photographs from previous Drake Relays and stop by the rest of the week to read our interview with David Peterson, author of The Drake Relays.

The Drake Relays: America's Athletic Classic, by David Peterson