For the second straight year the Penn Relays Carnival, custmarily held the final weekend of April in Philadelphia in the US, has been called off “due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and local restrictions on large gatherings”, a release from the organisers said Thursday.

While the event, which is highly popular with Jamaican high schools and tertiary institutions, and which attracts tens of thousands of Jamaicans both from the island and the Diaspora each year, has been cancelled, organisers have plans for a series of smaller meets “if health conditions on campus and in the city of Philadelphia continue to improve”, the release also said.

This year’s meet had been scheduled for April 22-24, but it was doubtful any Jamaican high schools would have attended given the proposed dates for the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association national high schools championships are tentatively set for April 27-May 1.

“If health conditions on campus and in the city of Philadelphia continue to improve, the Penn Relays plans to host a local collegiate-only track and field meet on Saturday, April 24, that is consistent with the Ivy League Council of Presidents’ parameters regarding spring sport competition,” the release said.

“The Penn Relays will also aim to host a meet for open and professional athletes in the coming months and a scholastic meet this summer.”

Dave Johnson, the Frank Dolson director of the Penn Relays, said: “We are extremely disappointed to cancel the Penn Relays for a second year, at the same time we feel a strong obligation to the local track and field community to provide as much competition as safely as possible during the course of the spring and summer.”

— Paul Reid