News Americas, PHILADELPHIA, PA, Fri. April 27, 2012: Beginning early on Saturday morning, thousands of Caribbean nationals, especially from Jamaica, will begin wending their way to the Ben Franklin Field in Philadelphia for the 118th annual running of the Penn Relays.
The annual event, the first and oldest of relay meet, continues to draw many Caribbean nationals who are especially enthused about the Caribbean versus the U.S. rivalry on the track.
Ok, let’s face it – it’s more about a Jamaica versus the US rivalry as will be evidenced by the screaming fans and the show of national colors in the stadium once the 2012 Outdoor Visa Championship Series begins from 1 – 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
And fans will have a lot to cheer about this year. The women of Team USA will face stiff competition from three of the four women from Jamaica’s silver 4×100-m team.
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson, are also set to compete as are Shericka Williams and Novlene Williams-Mills, who both ran on Jamaica’s second-place World Outdoor 4×400-m team.
Pryce enters 2012 as the defending Olympic champion in the 100. Jamaica will once again be bringing their 800m heavy-hitter Kenia Sinclair, who spilt 1:57.06 for 800-m in last year’s sprint medley relay.
The US squad is, however, hardly shoddy as Allyson Felix, Sanya Richards-Ross and Carmelita Jeter will once again headline the U.S. women’s squads. The trio have their sights set on London gold in the 100, 200 and 400 meters. Richards-Ross is fresh off her World Indoor victory in the 400, while Felix is a two-time Olympic silver medalist and 3-time world champion in the 200. Both women are still weighing a possible 200/400 double in 2012, and Felix could even drop down to the 100. The duo will also be joined by their teammates from the gold medal winning World Championships 4×400-m squad, Francena McCorory and Jessica Beard.
On the men’s sprint side, the Caribbean will be represented by 400-m world champion Kirani James of Grenada. James will be joined by countryman Rondell Bartholomew, who took sixth at the World Outdoor Championships.
Also on the World side is the Jamaican defending world and Olympic champions in the 4×100-m. Gold medalist Nesta Carter will lead the 4×100 crew while Jermaine Gonzales and Allodin Fothergill competed on Jamaica’s third-place World Outdoor 4x400m relay and will be on the track at Penn.
Team USA is being led by veterans Walter Dix, Angelo Taylor, Justin Gatlin and Lashawn Merritt. Dix is the current world silver medalist in both the 100m and 200m and has already run a windy time of 9.85 (+2.4 mps) in the 100m this year. Bringing more 100m talent to the team is Gatlin, who 2003 and 2012 World Indoor 60m champion. Olympic champion Lashawn Merritt ran to silver in Daegu in the 400m and also anchored the winning 4x400m relay team. In the 4×400, he will be joined by his world championships relay teammates Taylor and Bershawn Jackson.
Other Caribbean nations to watch include the Bahamas, Trinidad and Guyana.
Tickets are still available for this year’s event at www.ThePennRelays.com.
