Powell to start overseas campaign with relay races
Saturday March 17, 2007

OKLAHOMA, USA: Jamaican 100-metres World record holder Asafa Powell,
is set to compete at two relay meetings in the United States in
April.




Powell, who opened his season with two impressive sub-48 seconds 400m
performances on home soil earlier this year, will compete as part of
the Maximizing Velocity and Power (MVP) track and field club team at
the 49th Mount SAC Relays in San Antonio, on April 15, then at the
113th Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania two weeks later.

The 24-year-old record holder at 9.77, will be joined by fellow
Jamaicans Michael Frater, the 2005 World Championships 100m silver
medallist from Helsinki, and Ainsley Waugh.

Trinidad & Tobago's world junior record holder Darrel Brown, who
surprisingly win a silver medal in the 100m at the 2003 world
championships, completes the team, which is currently training in
Kingston, Jamaica.

In 2005 Powell was a member of the MVP side that finished behind
Maurice Greene's HSInternational side and meet director Scott Davis
is delighted to have him back at the relay carnival.

"For us to get an athlete like Asafa Powell in our meet is huge,"
Davis said. "We're a junior college. We have no money. We have to
rely on the goodwill of the agents."

Powell will be making his third appearance at the Penn Relays, after
winning the 100m in 10.10 last year and running and being part of the
Jamaican 4x100 team that finished second to a US team in 2004.

Earlier this year at the Gibson Relays at the National Stadium in
Kingston, the MVP team failed to finish after Brown failed to compete
the final exchange with Waugh on the anchor leg.

Meanwhile, it is also understood that the MVP camp will also field a
women's team in the relays. The team will be led by Commonwealth
Games 200m gold medallist Sherone Simpson, who dominated the short
sprints during the 2006 outdoor campaign.