For the first time since high school girls started competing at the Penn Relays in 1977 they will showcase their talents on Fridays and Saturdays, the organisers said earlier this week.

Normally the high school girls’ competition would start on Thursday — traditionally Women’s Day — as only females competed on the first full day of the event, which is held the last weekend of April at Franklin Field, located on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

For next year’s 127th staging, however, the boys will compete on Thursday and Friday, while the schedule will revert to the girls competing Thursday and Friday in 2024.

“As announced last year, 2023 will begin a great opportunity for high school girls to showcase their talents on Saturday of the Penn Relays,” stated the release issued on Wednesday.

“The high school boys’ programme will be spread over two days on Thursday and Friday this year, while the high school girls’ programme will take place on Friday and Saturday. Moving forward, the high school boys’ and girls’ programmes will rotate between Thursday/Friday and Friday/Saturday, giving both groups the opportunity to compete in front of the large Saturday crowd.”

The three-day relay carnival, which resumed April after a two-year break caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, saw a number of changes.

“The most notable change was the alignment of collegiate schedules for men and women, with the majority of events being contested on Friday and Saturday for both genders. We also expanded our professional reach with the Olympic Development events,” read the statement.

— Paul A Reid