Long before the days of Nike sponsorship and NBC Sports, and even a year before the first modern Olympics, there was the Penn Relays.
First run on April 21, 1895, the inaugural meet drew a crowd of 5,000 and also served as Franklin Field's dedication. A lot has changed from the first running to this weekend's 110th.
The relays started as an event for colleges and high schools, and all the events were run at the 4x440-yard distance. Today, the age range has widened to include elementary schools and the masters division for runners 75 years and older.
Also, individual races and field events join the relay races and the festive atmosphere to create the magnificent attraction that draws crowds of over 100,000.
Over the years, the Penn Relays Carnival has become more of a celebration of track and field, at the same time keeping the tradition of athletic achievement.
Villanova men's track and field coach Marcus O'Sullivan has led the Wildcats program for six years and ran distance at the Penn Relays for Villanova in the early 1980s. O'Sullivan enjoys the overall feeling of the carnival.
"I think what's happening to the event is that the event itself is transcending everything," O'Sullivan said.
"To me it didn't seem the same 20 years ago. It just seemed like distance medley was the big thing, but now there's so much going on at Penn Relays. ... There's so many good things happening on the weekend."
The Penn Relays have truly evolved since that spring day in 1895.
Post-collegiate events were added in 1956, and women's events began in 1962 with the 100-yard dash.
The period of the most noticeable growth in the event came in the 1970s under the guidance of Director Jim Tuppeny.
In 1976, every event except the mile and the 4x120-yard shuttle hurdles switched to metric measurements.
The following year saw the first use of automatic timing, and the year after that, Tuppeny and his staff oversaw the expansion of the carnival into a three-day meet.
Dave Johnson took over as director of the Penn Relays in 1996, and he believes that after Tuppeny's achievements, not much innovation is needed.
"The job isn't about necessarily coming up with big ideas," said Johnson, who added that the management of the event today is mostly logistical.
"Ultimately, it doesn't have a lot to do with track and field."
However, there has been one major advancement under Johnson's leadership: the introduction of the "USA versus the World" format for open competition in 2000.
Historically, Olympic years have been kind to the Penn Relays, and this year should be no exception.
"I think anytime we have an Olympic year, you see a spike in attendance and that attendance spike is just reflective of a general awareness and interest in track and field generated by the Olympics,"Johnson said.
The big names in attendance this year are also no exception, according to a recent trend.
Corporate sponsors, such as the shoe companies, now "want to bring their top athletes here," Johnson said. These athletes known outside the track and field culture have been coming even more frequently since the beginnings of the USA versus the World format.
This corporate sponsorship, which became a major source of funding in 1988, and television are what allow the Penn Relays Carnival to exist as a gathering of thousands of athletes and thousands of fans at the nation's oldest uninterrupted track and field meet.
