‘Penns’ organisers cautious on likely impact of World Relays
MONTEGO BAY, St James — The first staging of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Relays will be held in May 2014 in the Bahamas, and while it is being eagerly anticipated by most of the track and field world, it is wait-and-see for the organisers of the Penn Relays Carnival in Philadelphia, USA.
Dave Johnson, Meet Director for the Penn Relays, told the Jamaica Observer during the recent staging last month it was still too early to know if there would be any negative effect on the 119-year-old event that stages a similar event on the final day of the three-day meet.
“It is too early to know the effect,” Johnson said. “Some teams may still come over and some may stay away; some may come for an early run,” he reasoned.
The IAAF event, which will offer US$1.4 million in cash prizes, will see competition in five relay events — the 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m and 4x1500m in what is expected to be two days of excitement and will be used to qualify some teams for the World Championships and Olympic Games.
The Penn Relays series that has attracted a number of national teams, has staged a number of different relays over the last 13 years since it started, but the 4x100m and 4x400m have been standard. The 4x200m, female Sprint Medley (200mx200mx400mx800m) that has been won four times out of eight by Jamaica with a World Best 3:34.56 by a team of Sherri-ann Brooks, Rose-Marie Whyte, Moya Thompson and Kenia Sinclair in 2009.
The newest innovation in the IAAF calendar, which will be held 2014 and 2015 in the Bahamas, is scheduled a month after the Penn Relays’, where for the last 13 years, has staged the ‘USA vs The World’ series on the final day.
The series, which has been shown live on American network television, has been a resounding success with a one-day record crowd of over 54,000 turning up in 2010 when a team including double World Record holder Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake as well as Mario Forsythe and Marvin Anderson ran 37.90 seconds, the fastest time ever run in the 4x100m at Franklin Field.