Penn Relays
The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It regularly attracts more than 15,000 participants from high schools, colleges, and track clubs throughout North America and abroad, notably Jamaica, competing in more than 300 events over five days. Historically, the event has been credited with popularizing the running of relay races. It is held during the last full week in April, ending on the last Saturday in April. Attendance typically tops 100,000 over the final three days, and has been known to surpass 50,000 on Saturday. The Penn Relays also holds a CYO night for Catholic Middle Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Preliminaries are run on the Tuesday during Carnival Week, and the Finals are run on Friday.
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[edit] History
The first Penn Relays was held in 1895. Frank B. Ellis, chairman of Penn's track committee, was looking for an event to mark the dedication of the school's then new stadium, Franklin Field. Two years earlier, during his senior year at Penn, Penn and Princeton competed in a one-mile relay race in which four runners from each school each ran a quarter of a mile. That race had been an outgrowth of intramural relay races held at Penn. Ellis and others arranged a series of relay races to take place on Saturday afternoon, April 20, 1895. 64 competitors from eight colleges, six prep schools and two high schools took part. Eight two-team races were run with Harvard beating Penn in the mile-relay feature in 3:34.4.[1]
The 2010 Relays featured a "USA vs. The World" program, pitting American teams against elite runners including Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser and Alfred Kirwa Yego. The event broke all previous attendance records with a single-day high of 54,310 and the total of 117,346 for the three-day festival.[2]
[edit] In popular culture
- In the second season of The Cosby Show, in the episode "Off to the Races", Cliff Huxtable is invited to run in the Penn Relays.
- In the novel Crash by Jerry Spinelli, a boy is named "Penn" by his great-grandfather, who ran in the Penn Relays. In the end Penn gets to run in the Penn Relays.
[edit] World records
Over the course of its history, one world record has been set at the Penn Relays, although there have been additional world bests in non-IAAF recognized events such as the distance medley relay.
| Year | Event | Record | Athlete | Nationality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 4x200 m relay | 1:27.46 | LaTasha Jenkins LaTasha Colander-Richardson Nanceen Perry Marion Jones |
 United States |
[edit] Meet Records
[edit] Men
| Event | Record | Athlete | Nationality | Date | Ref | Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m | 10.10 | Leroy Burrell | United States |
April 1990 | ||
| Mile | 3:53.2 | Tony Waldrop | United States |
1974 | ||
| 5000 m | 13:16.47 | Shadrack Kosgei |  Kenya |
2003 | ||
| 10000 m | 27:50.0 | Sosthenes Bitok | Kenya |
1984 | ||
| 110 m hurdles | 13.30 | Terrence Trammell | United States |
29 April 2000 | ||
| 400 m hurdles | 48.91 | Derrick Adkins | United States |
April 1994 | ||
| 3000 m steeplechase | 8:24.34 | Anthony Famiglietti | United States |
April 2008 | ||
| 10000 m walk (track) | 39:43.85 | Tim Seaman | United States |
1999 | ||
| 4x100 m relay | 37.90 | Jamaica Gold Mario Forsythe Yohan Blake Marvin Anderson Usain Bolt |
 Jamaica |
24 April 2010 | [3] | [1] |
| 4x400 m relay | 2:56.60 | USA Red Angelo Taylor 45.0 Antonio Pettigrew 44.2 Tyree Washington 43.7 Michael Johnson 43.7 |
United States |
29 April 2000 | ||
| Distance medley relay | 9:15.56 | Elkanah Angwenyi 2:50.8 (1200m) Thomas Musembi 45.8 (400m) Alfred Kirwa Yego 1:46.2 (800m) Alex Kipchirchir 3:52.8 (1600 m) |
Kenya |
29 April 2006 |
[edit] Women
[edit] References
- ^ "The Relays!". Sports Illustrated. 1955-05-02. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1069475/1/index.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ Lee, Kirby (2010-04-25). Bolt electrifies record crowd with sub-9 second anchor leg at Penn Relays. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-04-25.
- ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Results". www.pennrelaysonline.com. 2010-04-24. http://pennrelaysonline.com/History/results.aspx?en=241&cy=2010. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ "100 Metres Hurdles Results". www.pennrelaysonline.com. 2010-04-24. http://pennrelaysonline.com/History/results.aspx?en=244&cy=2010. Retrieved 2010-04-25.
- ^ "Pole Vault Results". www.pennrelaysonline.com. 2011-04-28. http://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/results.aspx?en=518. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- ^ "4x100 Metres Relay Results". www.pennrelaysonline.com. 2011-04-30. http://pennrelaysonline.com/Results/results.aspx?en=469. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
- ^ Kirby Lee (2011-05-01). "Three World leads highlight Penn Relays". IAAF. http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=59879.html. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
[edit] External links
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