Jamaican schools will have another opportunity to fine tune preparations on American soil, a few days ahead of the Penn Relays in Philadelphia next month.

This with the first staging of the New York Next-Gen Invitational Relays, at the Memorial Stadium, in Mount Vernon on April 19. Among the invited schools so far are Jamaica College, Calabar, Kingston College, Vere, Holmwood and Hydel.

Teams will be able to match strides with teams from the Tri State area who are also gearing up for the Penn Relays which runs from April 24 to 26.

While the event is being promoted as a ‘stand alone’ meeting, the timing is strategic, coming only a week before the Penn Relays Carnival, in Philadelphia, PA, and will provide athletes an opportunity to sharpen their relay running technique, before heading south for the big, weekend track event in Philadelphia.

Shawn Falconer, Director-New York Next Gen Events Corp, promoters of the Next Gen Invitational Relays, tells us more.

Along with the traditional relays which will be ‘open’ to the best runners irrespective of age from each school, there will also be competition in a number of individual or ‘flat’ events, including the 100 meters dash, the sprint hurdles (110 m), 400 meters and 800 meters.

Schools will be limited to a maximum of three (3) athletes per individual event and one relay team per event.

As for the scoring system, the top three finishers in the individual events will receive the traditional gold, silver and bronze medals.

Medals will be presented only to relay winners.

Schools will have until March 31, to register and may call Director Shawn at; 206.418.6705 or send an email to; [email protected]

Early bird tickets – $25 – are on sale thru’ the end of the month (February). General admission tickets will be priced at $40, after that date.