PHILADELPHIA, USA — The hunt for honours at the 128th staging of the Penn Relay Carnival will start this morning at Franklin Field, Philadelphia, with over 50 institutions from Jamaica taking part in the oldest annual track and field meet in the United States.

Over the next three days, ending on Saturday afternoon, Jamaican high schools and colleges will join others from 37 states and the District Of Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Canada as well as seven other countries, including New Zealand, The Bahamas, and Trinidad and Tobago, in the hunt for the prized gold watches that are awarded to the winners.

After last year’s switch in schedule that saw the high school boys competing on Thursday and Friday and the girls taking the spotlight on Friday and Saturday, the schedule will revert to the girls starting the action off on the opening day.

The Jamaicans will welcome the weather forecast which calls for mostly sunny conditions, in the 70 degrees Fahrenheit range, unlike last year’s cold and rainy conditions.

Today, Hydel High will start the defence of their 4x100m and 4x400m relay titles, while Edwin Allen, who was denied any relay success last year, will seek to redeem themselves.

The preliminaries of all three relays, including the 4x800m, will be held today, with the finalists advancing to Friday’s deciders.

Additionally, St Jago High’s Jade-Ann Dawkins will seek to defend her triple jump title while two other Jamaicans will start favourites to win their individual events.

Hydel High leads 28 Jamaican schools down to contest the 4x100m relays, including record holders and nine-time champions Edwin Allen High, Wolmer’s Girls’, St Jago High, St Catherine High, St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), and Immaculate Conception High.

The Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Girls’ Athletics Championships winners Hydel High will also seek a third straight win in the 4x400m and fifth in the last six stagings.

Edwin Allen will hope to win their sixth and first since 2016, while Holmwood Technical, STETHS, Excelsior High, Alphansus Davis High, and St Jago High hope to have a say in who takes the title.

Edwin Allen High was the best-placed Jamaican team in the 4x800m last year, beaten by Union Catholic of New Jersey, and will join Hydel High and 11-time winners Holmwood Technical in the event.