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Penn Relays
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. 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.
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.
The Penn Relays affected the history of the sport of relay racing and helped it become as popular as it is today.
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.
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. 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.
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Penn Relays
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. 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.
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.
The Penn Relays affected the history of the sport of relay racing and helped it become as popular as it is today.
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.
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. 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.