Penn Relays

The Penn Relays welcomes you to the 2021 Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational, a competition that will combine traditional Penn Relays events and individual events for qualification purposes.  The event will take place on Saturday April 24, 2021.  There will be no events on Thursday and Friday and the competition will be collegiate only.  Entries will be submitted via DirectAthletics as opposed to the traditional Penn Relays entry portal.

Team Qualification
Due to geographic restrictions regarding the “local competition” boundary radius of forty miles, this meet is by invitation only.  If you have not received an invitation from the office of the Penn Relays and would like to discuss entry, please email Josh Seeherman at jseeher2@upenn.edu.

Events to be Contested
Relays: The meet will have five relays, the 4x100, 4x400, 4x800, and both medleys.
Individual: All field events will be contested in one flight with up to 16 competitors.  Any questions about qualification for field events should be addressed to Josh Seeherman (jseeher2@upenn.edu) or Dave Johnson (davidsj@upenn.edu).  For individual running events, the meet will have both hurdles, the 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, and 10000m.
A tentative schedule can be found here.

Entry Fees
The fees will be $45 per relay and $25 per individual event; payment by credit card through DirectAthletics.  If you absolutely must pay by check and will be bringing a check to the competition, please contact Josh Seeherman (jseeher2@upenn.edu).

Prizes
The top three finishers in every event, relay and individual, will receive traditional Penn Relays gold, silver, and bronze medals.  Relay winners will receive a small Penn Relays plaque.

Basic COVID protocols
Please see the accompanying PDF titled “Ivy-Penn COVID Attestation Form” for information on the process for COVID testing and attestation.  Teams will need to send a negative test attestation form Saturday morning after administering symptom checks to your travel party prior to departure.  Meet management will provide an email address for sending the attestation form as we get closer to the date.

Meet Protocols (this list is not exhaustive)

1. Meet Entry will be via DirectAthletics, not the traditional Penn Relays entry portal.
2. The venue will not be available for practice prior to competition.
3. Teams will drop off on 33^rd street at the large flagpole and proceed directly to the welcome tent for obtaining bib numbers and wristbands that indicate a negative test and daily symptom check attestation.  Athletes and coaches will be required to have these wristbands to enter and re-enter Franklin Field.
4. Bus parking will be provided on 33^rd Street.  Parking for team vans will be available at the Penn Park parking lot at 31^st and Chestnut Streets or the Hollenback Parking lot at River Fields Drive and 601 S. University Avenue but will need to be paid for by visiting teams.
5. Each team will be given a section of the Franklin Field stadium to serve as their home base.  Athletes can leave the stadium to warm up for their event either on Shoemaker Green or Penn Park across the Paley bridge.  All coaches and staff must remain masked while on the Penn campus.  Competing athletes will be allowed to remove their masks when they are called to the starting line or for their next field event attempt.
6. The Relays will not be using the typical clerking paddocks but will rather clerk at an outer clerking area in the horseshoe concourse and then proceed directly to the infield unless there is inclement weather.
7. Teams should bring your own pins for bib numbers.
8. Penn will continue to provide medical assistance for acute injury but will not be providing indoor space except on an emergency basis.  Athletic Trainers will have additional supplies on an emergency basis as well.  All teams are required to have an athletic trainer present.

 
Relay Events

1. Relay teams will be allowed on to the infield from the outer clerking area 15 minutes before their race.
2. Each relay team will be required to have an additional fifth person (“manager”) to accompany them through the clerking process.  The manager will collect facemasks and spike bags and bring them to the after-competition area once the team has reached the final check-in.
3. To help prevent transmission of COVID-19 via surfaces, all relays will be BYOB (“bring your own baton”) in 2021.

 
Individual Events

1. To reduce capacity in the competition venue, all field events will have only one flight per gender with up to 16 participants.
2. As there will be no spectators, coaches will use designated portions of the grandstand as a coaching box instead of being on the infield.
3. Individual field events will be allowed on to the infield 30 minutes before their start time.  Athletes competing in the individual running events will be allowed 15 minutes before their start time.
4. The distance races will be on Saturday evening.
5. Like the Penn Relays, the throwing events will be at the Mondschein complex, which is approximately ½ mile from Franklin Field.  Athletes and coaches should plan accordingly.  Access is either down the stairs from the South Street bridge or through Penn Park across both railroad bridges (Paley Bridge and the Weave Bridge).  Please let Relays staff know at the welcome tent if you need directions to the throwing complex.

 
Additional Rules and Regulations

1. The Rules of Eligibility for participating colleges and universities shall be those of the By-Laws of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
2. The Rules of Competition for this competition shall be the 2020-21 NCAA Track & Field/Cross Country Men's and Women's Rules, except where the longtime practices, special facilities, and special written rules of the Penn Relays may require otherwise.
3. Track and Field Surfaces: The track, all jumping surfaces and the javelin runway are synthetic surfaces of 3/8" thickness.
4. Spikes: Only 1/4" spikes are allowed. No corkscrew spikes will be allowed. Spikes will be checked.
5. Checkpoints: Relay zone and jumping event checkpoints may be marked with standard white trainer’s tape only.  No other items may be used, including chalk, powder, duct tape, masking tape, tacks or safety pins.
6. Starting Blocks will be provided by Penn where the use of blocks is considered essential. This includes all hurdle races and finals of all relays starting in lanes. No starting blocks other than these provided will be permitted on the field.
7. Lane Priority: Turn Races (9 lanes) 6-7-8-9-5-4-3-2-1; Straight Races 5-6-4-7-3-8-2-9-1; As always, the meet may use all nine lanes for events with a three-turn stagger and teams in the first three lanes should be prepared to break outward on the second lap.
8. The NCAA has adopted the International exchange zone, making the old 10-meter fly zone part of the 30-meter exchange zone.
9. Results will be posted online. Results will not be supplied to coaches in the Press Area.
10. The process for presenting awards while reducing exposure to COVID-19 will be announced at a later date.
11. Events will not be delayed for those who double.
12. PROTEST PERIODS
    i) A protest period of 30 minutes for Colleges shall commence upon the posting of the last result for that event or the final on time standings, whichever is later, to the Penn Relays results website (pennrelaysonline.com). All protests must be filed within the protest period at the Referees’ table inside of turn 1 on the track.  The protest period will NOT close if there is a pending protest or a decision has affected another team.  Once all protests have been addressed, the Results will become “Official.”
    ii) Jury of Appeals. The Penn Relays video review will rely only on available archived Relays web streaming, and no independent video may be used in protests or appeals.