SantaFeToday.com Santa Fe’s Hometown News
It began in 1895 and never slows up as the athletes perform and the spectators roar for four days
By Arnie Leshin | April 26, 2017
(Cover photo credit: Penn Relay)
Nothing runs like the Penn Relays … not on this planet.
It’s the oldest, biggest, most heralded track and field event. It brings together more athletes and fans than anywhere else.
Thursday, it runs for the 122nd time, beginning in 1895 where it has been each and every year, the City of Brotherly Love.. For the longest time, the site has been Franklin Field, only steps from the University of Pennsylvania.
Nothing has changed.
The scene: They come charging past the packed east stands, straining to reach the final straightaway, and the noise builds. A low guttural sound at first, it becomes a full-fledged roar by the time the runners head for the finish line.
The people in the north stands are standing now, some of them jumping up on the bleacher-type seats to get a better view of the mad dash to the finish.
Again and again the scene unfolds on the Penn Relay Carnival. With the emphasis on relays, it’s just a four-day carnival of track and field unlike any other, and event that can’t be matched for size, for crowd, for scope.
Nowhere else would you find a gathering of over 30,000 athletes, young and old, great and no-so great, converging on the ancient stadium. In good weather, a Saturday crowd could be 40,000 or more. With good weather, they could total over 110,000, not counting the Wednesday night distance races.
Simply put, it’s the first, largest and finest such carnival in the universe, not another like it.
I have been there 34 times, the first when I ran on the then-cinder path for my high school in 1954. In 1960, I covered it for the Long Island Press, rode the train from Brooklyn to Philly. In 1962, I did the same for the Jersey Journal in Jersey City, and covered it until I relocated in 1974 for south Florida. After that I covered it for the Miami Herald and other publications.
Each year that it rolls around, I want to be there, but there’s always a drawback, especially residing now in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
I miss seeing the Jamaican and United States fans going at it, but I’ve never seen or never heard a disturbance between the two. They cheer, they laugh, they rally for their respective nations. It is entirely great sportsmanship in a world that now has racial problems, violence, protests, but not here.
Maybe it’s because it is labeled the City of Brotherly Love.
In 1990, they went from a cinder path that brought a messy quagmire when it rained by adding a state-of-the-art rubberized turf oval. In 1964, the Jamaica high schools arrived for the first time, entering then 4 x 110 relays. In 1975, they joined up for the then 4 x 440 relay (the mile relay). In 2000, the country sent its girl’s high school teams.
And they have dominated since. The Jamaican boys won eight straight in the now 4 x 100 from 1985-93. They won six in the row in the now 4 x 400 from 1980-85. The girls also contributed with four-straight wins in the shorter relay, and six in a row in the 4 x 400.
As some doubting Thomas often referred to the sport as dropping in attendance and not ranking with the others, every four years of the Summer Olympics brings the largest crowd support of the event. Same with the marathon.
And in 2003, the Penn Relays went on television, showed a half-hour of the Saturday races. In 2011, it increased to one hour. In 2014, it became two full hours, some live, some taped. Each year, I make sure I’m in front of the screen to watch the Penns. When I was last there, the Saturday crowd was a record 48,355, the four days drew 115,000.
I almost went last year, but was undecided on whether to travel by plane, bus, train or drive. Then I gave up and stayed home. This time, no thought of going there, but it’s still in my thoughts.
The officiating there is exceptional. The clockwork is remarkable. As the carnival winds down in late Saturday afternoon, the final event always gets off at 6 p.m., never before, never after. The officials just hold the race — the college 4 x 400 championship relay — until that time.
And it’s always held on the last weekend of April.
Then comes the virtually nonstop drama, minute after minute, hour after hour, day by day. It’s the talk of the town, parking is scarce in the surrounding U of Penn area, hotels are booked well in advance at high prices, results are shown daily on the local TV channels, and it’s all over the pages of the two major dailies.
Thursday is ladies day for the high schools and colleges. Friday morning is when the boys start, and when the high school 4 x 400 rolls around at 9:20, it begins a parade of races that don’t conclude until 12:25.
Then there are the Olympic year relays that usually match-up Jamaica versus the USA. There are other countries, but none have the fans support of Bob Marley land and the red, white and blue. If it’s not an Olympic year, there are still events bringing elite athletes there, especially Jamaica against the USA.
Last year brought in 970 high schools, 285 colleges, and various other teams, other individuals. There were also the Olympians, Masters and excited elementary schoolers.
A total of 425 races and competition in 334 events. Along with United States high schools making the trip from as far as California, others show up from Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tabago, Bahamas, Grenada, Canada, the Virgin Islands, and Ireland from across the sea.
All this makes for the beauty of these Penn Relays, the breathtaking magic of the event.
This year will bring company to the event. For the first time, the National Football League’s college draft will be held in Philadelphia at a site just east of Franklin Field. That will be on Thursday, and the city has already roped off and suspended traffic for the day.
The NFL draft may get more coverage, at least on Thursday and Friday, but the Penn Relay Carnival has been running before professional football even existed. Who knows where the draft will be held next year, but there’s no doubt as to where the Penns will be.
Maybe next year for me, maybe.
NOTE: When the Penn Relays first began, it was initiated as a means of rejuvenating track and field at the University of Pennsylvania, and it also introduced the relay concept to the world. No doubt it was a marvelous idea, the very essence of our American democracy.
It created more track training and competition not only more enjoyable but more significant as well. It brought four runners joined together for a common purpose: team victory.
Individual effort is still present, always will be, but in the relays if the team wins, each runner wins. If the team loses, each runner loses.
