2020 Penn Relays cancelled due to virus outbreak

The 2020 Penn Relays, which was scheduled for April 23-25, has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The announcement was made through a release from Penn Athletics on Monday.

This is the first time in 125 years that the popular relay carnival, which attracts many Jamaican high and tertiary school teams as well as fans from the Diaspora, has been cancelled. The event also usually features national teams that compete in the USA vs The World series.

The University of Pennsylvania, which hosts the Penn Relays, will look to host a substitute track meet later this year, possibly in late May or early June, according to the release.

"The Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Pennsylvania has announced that the 2020 Penn Relays, scheduled for April 23 through 25, has been canceled due to the evolving coronavirus public health threat.  The Penn Relays, which has been contested uninterrupted since 1895, celebrated its 125th consecutive running last year. In its place, Penn will endeavor to host a substitute track meet at a later date in late May or early June," the release read. 

"Based on the current novel coronavirus pandemic, we cannot host an event in late April without putting our participants, spectators, officials, volunteers, and staff at risk," Dr. M. Grace Calhoun, the director of recreation and intercollegiate athletics at Penn, said in the release. "We remain hopeful that the recent measures put in place by many health organizations, government officials, and academic institutions will curtail the spread of this disease."