The Penn Relays (officially The Penn Relay 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. In 2012, there were 116 events run at the meet. More athletes run in the Penn Relays than at any other track and field meet in the world.[1] 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 Catholic Youth Organization night for Catholic Middle Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Preliminaries are run on the Tuesday during the Carnival Week, and the Finals are run on Friday.
The Penn Relays is always held the last week in April and always begins the Thursday of that week. It went on hiatus in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic, the only year it did so besides the years from 1917–18 and 1942–45. The event resumed in 2022.
History
The Philadelphia inquirer, on April 16, 1893, previewed the forthcoming "first annual spring handicap" to be run on May 13, 1893.
When the University of Pennsylvania Track and Field committee wanted to add more excitement to their 1893 spring handicapped meet, they came up with the idea of running a relay race at the meet. The team would consist of four men all running a quarter of a mile one after the other. Today this relay race is known as the 4 × 400 m relay. The sport of relay running was only two years old at the time of the first Penn Relays. During the 1893 spring handicapped track meet, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University men ran a relay race against each other. The Princeton men won with a time of 3:34, beating the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) by 8 yards.
In 1894, Penn hosted the track and field meet at the university athletic grounds at 37th and Spruce Streets on April 21, 1894.[2]
The Penn Relays affected the history of the sport of relay racing and helped it become as popular as it is today.[1]
1895 Penn Relay TrophyPenn Relays historical marker located on the Northwest Corner of Franklin Field
The first Penn Relay Carnival
The first Penn Relay Carnival, held on April 21, 1895, at Franklin Field, was a success. Approximately 5,000 people attended the meet. Nine relay races were run and only two teams were in each race, four of which were high school and prep school races. Another four were college races and one championship college race. The only relay run at that time was the 4 x 400-yard relay or the mile relay. The first team to win a Penn Relays championship was Harvard University, defeating the University of Pennsylvania with a time of 3:34. Other colleges that competed in the meet were Cornell, Columbia, Lafayette, Lehigh, Rutgers, Swarthmore, City College of New York and New York University.[1]
Growth of the meet
The number of entries from the first Penn Relay Carnival to the second Penn Relay Carnival quadrupled. Because of this, a time schedule of events had to be made to keep the meet organized. A rule was established that if a team was not on time to their race, the race would be run without them. In that same year a 5-mile relay was added to the meet which would later become the 4-mile relay. The next year, in 1897, the 2-mile relay or the 4 × 800 m relay was added to the meet. In 1898, The University of Chicago became the first midwestern team to attend the carnival. In the two years after that, the following events were added to the meet: 100-yard dash, 220-yard dash, 120-yard hurdles, high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot put and hammer throw.
The Term "Carnival" was put into the name of the meet in 1910 because of the carnival-like atmosphere created by the carnival-like tent camp at the meet.[1] Also in 1910, the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America created The Relay Racing Code. The Code created a 20-foot area in front of the starting line in which a touch-off between legs or runners of the relay could be made. This rule later became the rule for the exchange zone or the 20-meter zone (10 meters in front of the finish line, 10 meters behind the finish line) in which a baton can be passed from one leg of a relay to another. At that time there was no such thing as batons or exchange zones that are used in present-day relay racing; instead runners would stand on the starting line and wait for the runner before them to touch their hand. At the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, exchange zones were used for the first time. In 1913 at the Penn Relay Carnival, the baton was used for the first time. Zones and batons made exchanges from one leg of the relay to the next much more efficient and eventually made relay times much faster.[1]
At the 1911 Penn Relay Carnival, the college and high school championship events became known as the "Championship of America" races. Ten years later the NCAA hosted the first college championship meet, but before then the Penn Relays was thought to be the national championship meet. In 1914, Oxford University turned the Penn Relay Carnival into an international event, becoming the first team outside of the United States to compete. That year Oxford won the 4-mile relay. The 1915 Penn Relay Carnival took place over two days instead of one as in the years before. That same year the sprint medley relay (200m, 200m, 400m, 800m) and the distance medley relay (1200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m) were added to the meet.[1]
At the 1926 Carnival the championship event of the shuttle hurdle relay was added to the Penn Relays events at the suggestion of Lord Burghley, the UK's Olympic hurdler. Around that same time, the loudspeaker was added to the stadium which helped inform the spectators of the events on the track. Before the loudspeaker, announcers used megaphones to inform spectators.[1]
In an effort to gain more participants in the relays, six new lanes were added to the inside of the track. This renovation allowed for more athletes to compete in the spinning events. That same year the northwest corner of the stadium, previously used as the finishing chute, was now used for the paddock area, where athletes were lined up and organized before their race. In the 1950s the schedule of events was changed so that the more popular events were run on Saturday afternoon.[1]
The Carnival continued to grow as the years went on. In 1956, the number of spectators reached over 35,000 people for the first time and 4,000 athletes competed. Then in 1958, 43,618 people attended the meet. In 1962 women competed for the first time in the 100-yard dash. Two years later the high school girls 440-yard relays was added to the carnival. That same year Jamaican high schools started to compete in the meet.[1]
Keith Francis anchors Boston College to win the 1975 Penn Relays Sprint Medley Relay Championship in front of over 40,000 fans at Franklin Field
The Marathon was added to the Carnival in 1973. The next year, distance events were moved on the schedule of events to be run on Thursday night after the second day of the decathlon. Then in 1976, the events were converted into meters instead of yards except for the mile and the 4x120-yard shuttle hurdle relay. A year later, automatic timing was used for results instead of hand timing. The carnival turned into a three-day meet in 1978 because of the addition of more women's relays.[1]
The Penn Relay Carnival did not only grow in the number of spectators, participants and events, it also started to grow financially. In 1988, the carnival used corporate sponsorship instead of just earning money from tickets sold at the door like it had in the years before. In the years that followed, the crowd and number of participants gradually increased and the carnival would become nationally and internationally more popular.[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.[3]
At the 2016 Relays, Ida Keeling became the first woman in history to complete a 100-meter run at the age of 100, which she did with a time of 1:17.33.[4][5][6]
COVID outbreak
The 2020 Penn Relays was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[7] According to news sources, these were the first times the event had been canceled since the event's inception on April 21, 1895.[7]
New events
In 2021, organisers split the Penn Relays into two different events -- the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational presented by Toyota for colleges on the traditional weekend,[8] and the Summer Series, which featured open races held in mid-July.[9] A 5k race around the campus that finishes at the track was also introduced as an October event.[10]
In 2022, the Penn Relays made both the Summer Showcase (now its own separate one-day event) and 5k standard events annual in July and October, respectively.
Franklin Field
Haiti's Rob Moise competes in the Penn Relays at Franklin Field on April 22, 2016
Franklin Field was opened in 1895 specifically for the first Penn Relay Carnival. In this same year, Franklin Field was the site of the nation's first scoreboard. According to the NCAA, Franklin Field is the oldest stadium that functions as both a football field and a track and field stadium.[11]
In the fall of 1903, it became the first permanent college stadium in the country and the first stadium with a horseshoe design.[1] The stadium was rebuilt in 1922 to its present-day form. The lower deck seating was made more stable and the upper deck seating was added to the stadium to allow for more spectators.[1] After Franklin Field's renovations, it became the first two-tiered stadium. In 1967 the 10 lane synthetic track was added to replace the old overused cinder track.[1]
Prizes
The plaque
The plaque was first given out at the 1925 Penn Relay Carnival. The design that is on the plaque and the medals was created by Dr. R. Tait McKenzie. The picture on the awards features the founder of the University of Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin, sitting in his library chair holding a laurel sprig in his left hand. Four nude runners stand facing him in a line all holding hands. The last runner in the line is holding the baton of the relay. Former University of Pennsylvania runners Larry Brown, Louis Madeira, George Orton and Ted Meredith posed as models for the design. The design is carved onto an 18" or 8" bronze plate and mounted on a wooden circle. Around the bronze picture, on the wooden part of the plaque, reads "Relay Carnival" above the design and "University of Pennsylvania" below the design.[1]
Other prizes by event
College championship relays
The winning team in the college "Championship of America" relays will receive an 18" bronze plaque. The individuals on the first place relay will receive gold watches. Individuals on the second place team will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third, fourth and fifth place relays will receive bronze medals.[12]
College relays
The winning teams of the non-championship college relays will receive an 8" plaque. Individuals on the second place team will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third, fourth and fifth place relays will receive bronze medals. The prizes for the college relays are the same for the Military Academies races except the individuals on the first place teams will receive gold watches as well and the plaque.[12]
College championship individual events
First place individuals receive gold watches. Second will receive silver medals. Third, fourth and fifth receive bronze medals.[12]
College individual events
First place individuals receive gold medals instead of gold watches. Second will receive silver medals. Third, fourth and fifth receive bronze medals.[12]
High school championship relays
The winning team in the high school "Championship of America" relays will receive an 18" bronze plaque. The individuals on the first place relay will receive gold watches. Individuals on the second place team will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third, fourth and fifth place relays will receive bronze medals. If a team from outside the United States wins one of these races, watches will also be given to the first American team in this race.[12]
High school championship individual events
First place individuals receive gold watches. Second will receive silver medals. Third, fourth and fifth receive bronze medals. Just like in the high school championship relays, the first American individual will receive the gold watch.[12]
Olympic development relays
The first place relay will receive an 8" bronze plaque. The plaque will go to the first national team whose members are all the same nationality or the first USAT&F registered club whose members are all members of the same club. The individuals on the first place relay will receive gold watches. Individuals on the second place team will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third, fourth and fifth place relays will receive bronze medals.[12]
Olympic development individual events
First place individuals receive gold watches. Second will receive silver medals. Third, fourth and fifth receive bronze medals.[12]
Masters, Special Olympics, and blind relays
The first place team will receive an 8" bronze plaque. Individuals on the winning relay will receive gold medals. Individuals on the second place relay will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third fourth and fifth place teams will receive bronze medals.[12]
Masters, Special Olympics, and blind individual events
First place individuals receive gold medals. Second will receive silver medals. Third, fourth and fifth place receive bronze medals.[12]
IC4A men's and ECAC women's relays
The winning teams of these relays will receive an 8" plaque. Individuals on the second place team will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third, fourth and fifth place relays will receive bronze medals. If the times of winners of these races are faster than that of the college championship races, they will receive gold watches.[12]
High school Philadelphia, Tri-State, and consolation races
The first place team will receive an 8" bronze plaque. Individuals on the winning relay will receive gold medals. Individuals on the second place relay will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third, fourth, and fifth plea teams will receive bronze medals.[12]
High school 4 × 400 m and 4 × 800 m and prep school 4 × 100 m and 4 × 400 m relays
The first place team will receive an 8" bronze plaque. Individuals on the winning relay will receive gold medals. Individuals on the second place relay will receive silver medals. Individuals on the third place teams will receive bronze medals.[12]
Elementary school, junior high school, middle school, and parochial school relays
The first place team will receive an 8" bronze plaque. Individuals on the winning relay will receive gold medals. Individuals on the second place relay will receive silver medal Individuals on the third place teams will receive bronze medals.[12]
In popular culture
Bayard Rustin was an African-American civil rights activist and the principal organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Rustin is one of two men who both ran at the Penn Relays and had a school named in his honor.[13]
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.
The Penn Relays play a key role in "Off to the Races," a second-season episode of The Cosby Show. Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) is invited to participate in a relay race during the event, but finds himself running against Olympic medalist Valerie Brisco-Hooks.
World records
Over the course of its history, originally one world record was set at the Penn Relays (though it was revoked following doping results), and one record was subsequently declared a world record after World Athletics began recognising the event. The 2006 distance medley relay Kenyan team was the first world record recognised by World Athletics from this event when the event became an official event at their Relays event on May 1, 2015.[14]
Matthew Nicholas Biondi is an American former competitive swimmer and water polo player. As a swimmer, he is an eleven-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder in five events. Biondi competed in the Summer Olympic Games in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning a total of eleven medals. During his career, he set three individual world records in the 50-meter freestyle and four in the 100-meter freestyle.
'Kara Lynn Joyce, is an American former competition swimmer and four-time Olympic silver medalist. She competed as a member of the United States Olympic Team at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
Michael Frater O.D is a Jamaican retired sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres event. He won a silver medal at the 2005 World Championships and a gold medal at the 2003 Pan American Games for the event.
Nesta Carter OD is a Jamaican retired sprinter who specialized in the 100 metres event. Carter was successful as part of the Jamaican 4 x 100 metres relay team, taking gold and setting successive world records at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 London Olympics. He also won a 4 x 100m silver medal at the 2007 World Championship and a gold at the 2015 World Championships. On August 11, 2013, Carter secured an individual 100m World Championship bronze medal in Moscow, behind Justin Gatlin and teammate Usain Bolt. He followed this with another gold in the 4 x 100 metres relay.
The Michigan Wolverines men's track and field team is the intercollegiate track and field program representing the University of Michigan. The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Edgar Roberto Crespo Echeverría is a Panamanian swimmer, who has been representing Panama in swimming competitions around the world.
Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won nine Olympic gold medals and 21 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. With 14 medals and 9 gold medals, she is also the most decorated American woman, most decorated female swimmer, the female with the most gold medals and fifth-most decorated athlete in Olympic history. She has won a record 16 individual gold medals at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky's eight individual medals at the Olympics and 26 overall medals at the World Aquatics Championships are records in women's swimming. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle, as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events. She is widely regarded as the greatest female swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
Madeline Jane "Maya" DiRado-Andrews is a retired American competitive swimmer who specialized in freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and individual medley events. She attended and swam for Stanford University, where she won NCAA titles in the 200 and 400 meter individual medley in 2014 and graduated with a degree in management science and engineering. At the 2016 US Olympic Trials, DiRado qualified to swim the 200 meter and 400 meter individual medley events, as well as the 200 meter backstroke, at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she won a gold medal in the women's 4x200 meter freestyle relay, a silver medal in the 400 meter individual medley, a bronze medal in the women's 200 meter individual medley, and a gold medal in the 200 meter backstroke. Following the Olympics, DiRado retired from the sport.
Abbigail "Abbey" Weitzeil is an American competition swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle. A multiple time Olympic medalist, she won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay for swimming in the preliminary heats and a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, swimming in the final of both events. She is the American record holder in the 50-yard freestyle and is part of the American Record in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Taylor Madison Ruck is a Canadian competitive swimmer. She won two Olympic bronze medals as part of Canada's women's 4×100 metre and 4×200 metre freestyle relay teams at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Ruck won eight medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Her eight medal performance of one gold, five silver, and two bronze tied her with three other athletes for the most all-time at a single Commonwealth Games, as well as making her the most decorated Canadian female athlete ever at a single Commonwealth Games. Ruck is the all-time leading medallist at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships having won nine gold, two silver, and two bronze over the course of the 2015 and 2017 editions.
The 1928 United States Olympic trials for track and field were held between July 3 and July 7, 1928 and decided the United States team for the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. For the first time, women's track and field was part of the Olympic program. The trials for men and women were held separately; men competed at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 6 and July 7, while women competed at City Field in Newark, New Jersey on July 4. Three of the men's events were contested in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between July 3 and July 5.
Regan Smith is an American competitive swimmer. She won 3 medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics and 5 medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She is the current world record holder in the long course 100-meter backstroke, world junior record holder in the women's long course 100-meter backstroke and 200-meter backstroke, and the former world record holder in the 200-meter backstroke.
Hannah Margaret McNair "Maggie" Mac NeilOLY, MSc is a Canadian competitive swimmer. A 100 metre butterfly event specialist, she is the 2020 Olympic champion, 2019 World (LC) champion, two-time World (SC) champion, 2022 Commonwealth champion, and 2023 Pan American champion. She holds the short course world record, the Commonwealth record, and Pan American record in the event.
Zachary "Zach" Douglas Apple is a retired American competitive swimmer who specialized in the sprint freestyle events. He used to swim for DC Trident in the International Swimming League. He won his first Olympic gold medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, swimming in the prelims and the final of the event, and later in the same Olympic Games won a gold medal and helped set a new world record and Olympic record in the 4x100-meter medley relay, swimming the freestyle leg of the relay in the final.
Alexandra Walsh is an American competitive swimmer. She is known for her versatility in all four strokes that has allowed her to have success in medley events. Growing up, Walsh was a phenom who started setting national age group records at 12 in 2014. She led her high school team to multiple state and national championships. At the 2019 Pan American Games, she won three gold medals.
Claire Curzan is an American competitive swimmer and Olympian. Specialising in multiple events, she earned an Olympic silver medal in the 4×100 meter medley relay in the 2020 Summer Olympics by swimming the preliminary butterfly leg. She holds junior world records in the long course 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter butterfly and the short course 50 meter butterfly and 100 meter butterfly. She also holds American records in the short course 50 meter backstroke and 50 meter butterfly, and formerly held the American record in the 100 yard butterfly. She currently swims for the Virginia Cavaliers.
Kieran Smith is an American swimmer specializing in freestyle and individual medley events. He currently co-holds short course world records in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay and the 4×100-meter medley relay. He is the Americas record holder in the long course 400-meter freestyle and the American record holder in the 500-yard freestyle. In the 400-meter freestyle, he won the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and the gold medal at the 2022 World Short Course Championships. Following a fourth-place finish in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals in the event at the 2021 World Short Course Championships, 2022 World Aquatics Championships, and the 2022 World Short Course Championships.
Victoria "Torri" Huske is an American competitive swimmer and the reigning Olympic champion in the 100-meter butterfly. She holds world records in two relays: the 4x100-meter medley and 4x100-meter mixed medley. She is the former American record holder in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly.
Katherine Cadwallader Douglass is an American competitive swimmer and graduate student in mathematics. A versatile swimmer who competes in many events, Douglass won her first major international medal at the 2020 Olympic Games and then won three medals at the 2022 World Championships. Douglass then won six medals, including two golds, at the 2023 World Championships. At the 2024 World Championships, she won five medals, including two golds. Douglass won four medals, including two golds, at the 2024 Olympic Games; she became the Olympic champion in the 200 m breaststroke.
Joshua Liendo Edwards is a Canadian competitive swimmer who is an Olympic silver medalist. He is the first Black Canadian swimmer to win an individual medal at a major international championship. At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Liendo won a silver medal in the men's 100 m butterfly.
↑ Hoover, Brett (2016). "What's in a name". pennrelaysonline. 63rd school listed on page. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 29, 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
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