Penn Relays canceled after 125 straight years of competition. State College, Penns Valley react
The Penn Relays have been held for 125 consecutive years — through two World Wars and the 1918 Spanish flu — but the streak for the nation’s oldest and largest track meet has finally come to an end.
The annual prestigious event, which invites about 15,000 competitors every year to Philadelphia, was officially canceled Monday due to concerns surrounding COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The relays were scheduled to take place April 23-25 at the University of Pennsylvania, although organizers hope an abbreviated, substitute track meet might take its place in late May or early June.
State College was expected to travel about 10-15 student-athletes to the meet, while Penns Valley was expecting 2-3. Penn State also routinely takes part every season in the meet that features competitors from grade school through the Masters division, which starts at age 35.
“We kind of knew it was going to happen; the writing was on the wall,” Little Lions coach Artie Gilkes said. “It’s totally understandable, given the current climate and situation. But it’s definitely disappointing.”
Penn Relays released a statement late last week, insisting the meet would soldier on. But with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent recommendation to avoid gathering in groups of 50 or more people for the next eight weeks, an event that annually brings tens of thousands of fans and competitors simply was not practical.
“Based on the current novel coronavirus pandemic, we cannot host an event in late April without putting our participants, spectators, officials, volunteers and staff at risk,” Penn Athletic Director M. Grace Calhoun said in a written statement. “We remain hopeful that the recent measures put in place by many health organizations, government officials and academic institutions will curtail the spread of this disease.”
Like many teams, both at the high school and college level, Gilkes said his group is maintaining “situational readiness.” State College is still preparing as if there will be a season. Penns Valley junior Colton Sands said his program is taking the same approach.
That means, although school and sports practices are closed for the next two weeks, local student-athletes are still running up hills and practicing on their own while maintaining the recommended social distancing. State College’s coaches and student-athletes text or talk every day and, within 15 minutes of Monday’s news, Gilkes’ entire team seemed to know about the cancellation.
“The kids were instantly talking about it,” Gilkes added.
If the Penn Relays are eventually made up, the three-day event will be limited to just a single day. Competitors come from other countries like Jamaica, so it’s also believed that the scale of the relays would be considerably smaller.
Sands, the defending state champ in the 3,200, said he feels terrible for the seniors on his team and around the state. They won’t experience one final time of competing in front of thousands of spectators.
But, for the Penns Valley junior, the sting of not being able to compete himself is softened by knowing he has one more season.
“I feel disappointed,” he said. “Penn Relays is obviously a huge meet, and it would be real honor to run there but, at the same time, hopefully there will be other meets. And there’ll always be next year.
“At this point, safety just has to come first.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 4:18 PM.
