Eleven days of high-level track-and-field competition with athletes of all ages are coming to Jacksonville in July.
To aid the effort, the Duval County Tourist Development Council on Thursday awarded grants totaling $125,000 for the USA Masters Outdoor Track & Field Championship, scheduled July 23-26, and for the USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championships, scheduled July 27-Aug. 2.
Both competitions will be at Hodges Stadium at the University of North Florida.
Combined, the two events are projected to bring enough athletes, family members, coaches, trainers, officials and staff to result in more than 17,000 room nights in hotels and motels in the county.
Angela Harris, vice president of USA Track & Field Florida Youth, said the Masters Championship, for competitors ages 30-99, has never been in Jacksonville.
The Junior Olympic competition is for athletes from ages 7-19. The 2015 edition will mark the first time the event has been held in Jacksonville and the first time in Florida since 2003, when Miami was the host site.
Harris said the junior competition is expected to attract as many as 8,000 athletes, plus family members.
Based on the reaction to the track facilities and to Jacksonville, the juniors could return to Jacksonville “every two or three years,” said Harris.
The council also approved a $15,000 grant for the April 16-19 25th anniversary of Springing the Blues at Jacksonville Beach.
Festival founder and Executive Director Sam Veal asked for $20,000, but the board decided that after funding the event at that level for the past several years, it’s time to encourage Veal to secure more sponsors.
“You’re an institution. You should be able to get sponsors,” council member Fred Pozin told Veal.
Veal said the City of Jacksonville Beach supports the event with a cash contribution of $8,000 and with an additional $18,000 of in-kind contributions, such as waiving permit fees and providing public safety services.
Jacksonville Beach Mayor Charlie Latham accompanied Veal for the presentation to the council. He said the festival will bring 200,000 people to the Beaches and the hotels are sold out weeks in advance.
“We have 1,262 businesses that depend on events like this,” he said.
Other grants approved by the council:
• $10,000 to the Jacksonville Junior Volleyball Association for its 2015 tournament series, four events in January-April.
• $10,000 to the National team Roping League for the Jan. 29-Feb. 1 NTRL Finals and the May 1-3 NTRL Florida Truck Roping. League representative Monica Pritchard explained that the cowboys compete to win trucks as prizes.
• Three grants, a total of $14,000, to offset the cost of fireworks for the Nov. 28 Holiday on the River Tree Lighting, the Nov. 29 Community First Light Boat Parade and the Jacksonville Beaches July 4 celebration.
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