Sonia O’Sullivan: Irish athletes to the fore again at the famous Penn Relays

The Penn Relays Carnival is the oldest and longest-running track and field event in the United States, having started in 1895, one year before the first Olympic Games.

It holds a special, historic place in athletics and, while run by the University of Pennsylvania, there is also a long-running winning history with Villanova University and with that a long-running connection with Irish athletes, who realise from the moment they arrive on the Villanova campus that a coveted Penn Relays victory is one of the most special things they can aspire to achieve during their time in college.

This past weekend I was invited back as an inductee to the Penn Relays ‘Wall of Fame’ where, each year since 1994, three individual athletes and three relay teams are honoured and get to leave their mark on the wall of plaques alongside the final bend of the famed Franklin Field stadium in Philadelphia.

It is only when you return to Penn Relays after a long spell away that you realise the significance of this event and what it means to so many people.

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It is one of the few track events in the US that attracts engaged fans with most events providing exciting close finishes and where the crowd gets on its feet and the roars of encouragement follow the athletes around the stadium.

We were lucky to witness one more victory for Villanova on Saturday in the 4x1 mile Championship of America race, with the team having a strong Irish influence. It was led off by 20-year-old Sean Donoghue (from Celtic DCH) who handed over to Charlie O’Donovan (Leevale AC) with next up Sean Dolan (Ewing, NJ) and finally anchored by Liam Murphy, who many assume is from Ireland but is actually a local lad from nearby Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The head coach Marcus O’Sullivan and women’s coach Gina Procaccio do a fantastic job of getting these Villanova teams to turn up every year always entertaining hope of victory because nothing less is expected of them by the Villanova Alumni who travel from near and far year after year to gather in the far corner of the stadium up high, close enough to see the races unfold on the final lap, while also getting a clear view of the finish where so many races have the closest of finishes down through the years.

On Saturday Villanova just edged out Wisconsin in the final metres to claim the championship, the one-second loss to Wisconsin in the DMR less than 24 hours earlier now a distant memory as the Villanova men took to the inside track of this unique stadium to complete a well-earned victory lap to share with the cheering fans.

In a race with seven teams in contention at the top of the straight, the art of racing was displayed at its finest by Liam Murphy as he followed his coach’s last words of advice to be patient and wait for that last move as late as you can.

Even Marcus was overcome with emotion as he took in the enormity of one more victory (a feeling that never gets old down through the years, from athlete to coach) as he got the pleasure of seeing one more generation of Villanova athletes hoist the Penn relay giant wheel of a trophy high above their heads.

Villanova boasts the most victories of any other school in Championship of America races; it’s like Villanova are always defending their patch, so have no choice but to turn up each year while teams from the west coast, the south, north and mid-west can pick and choose when they decide to travel. Often they only do when they have a team that they think is good enough to win and take home the Penn relays wheel and famous Penn Relay watches for each athlete.

Over the years many teams come in with fast times. On paper, they look almost unbeatable. But there’s something about Penn that changes the dynamics and times are often thrown out the window.

The women’s 4x1,500m relay was another cracker of a race. In previous years this was decided after two legs but this time it came down to the wire! The University of Washington travelled across the country for this race and looked strong while the University of Oklahoma were poised at the bell. But Providence College, who are regulars at the Penn relays, ran a tactically smart race to take the victory.

Guided by Ray Treacy, the coach at Providence College the past 40 years, who has as much Penn relay experience as Villanova without the same pressure, Providence were led by solid performances from British athlete Shannon Flockhart, Jane Buckley (Leevale AC), Alex O’Neill (Ennis AC) and anchored by New Zealand athlete Kimberley May.

And the race had the crowd on their feet in another close finish, where times are just an accessory to the pure competition when a championship title is on the line.

Shane Bracken of Swinford AC helped Ole Miss to victory in the men’s 4x800m race. When it comes to racing the Penn Relays, I feel it is a bit like Cheltenham with lots of Irish winners and connections bobbing up across the three days of intense racing.

There is so much noise and so many races at this event you have to keep your wits about you, the programme keeps running and surprisingly it rarely falls behind schedule.

It’s such a cauldron of noise with so much going on that all the teams stick closely together not wanting to lose anyone at that crucial moment when you have to pass through the holding pens, pick up your hip number and get led out to the changeover zone.

A lot of the noise and energy comes from the travelling Jamaican high schools teams who travel en masse with their families, coaches and teachers .They pack the stands and stand out in their bright yellow and green shirts and flags.

Only last year, the Jamaican prime minister paid a visit to the Penn Relays to show his support to one of the events that so many Jamaican sprinters have graced in their high school years. They have often returned home victorious .

The largest crowd ever at the Penn Relays was in 2010; on that occasion, 54,000 people packed into the stadium when Usain Bolt came to run.

There is so much history at the Penn Relays it motivates athletes to get their name in the record books. I can remember studying the programme each year at Villanova, looking back at the records and past winners and only dreaming of getting out there and leaving my own mark on a track that continues to deliver storybook races every year.

The future is always changing but the history is what drives the Penn Relays to deliver every year, a carnival to remember and inspire the true competitive spirit of sport and athletics.