LYNN — Prior to last spring’s Lynn All-City Track and Field Meet, Joe Abelon – who assists with youth running events in the City – was informed by John Hogan, a track and field coach at Lynn Tech, that the increase in roster size at the City Meet was due to the influence of two youth-oriented events: the Summer Youth Track Meet Series and 5th Grade Track Meet.
“The amount of athletes competing in outdoor track in Lynn is much higher than other cities of comparable size,” Abelon said. “Track and field and cross country differ from many of the other sports – relative to roster size – because these two sports do not have roster limits. Each sport allows all members of the roster the ability to participate in each meet. These sports offer immediate gratification, too, as one can monitor their progress by how far they jumped, how high they jumped, how far they threw, or how fast they ran. It’s the most cost-effective sport a school has to offer, providing athletic experience for more participants at a much lower cost-per-athlete ratio.”
Just look at the Parks and Recreation Department’s 5th Grade Track Meet.
A long-running – pun intended – tradition in the City, the meet is Rec’s only running activity that excludes other communities. It involves 18 public elementary schools.
The origin of the event stemmed from a previous one, the Lynn Elementary School Cross Country Meet, which was established in 2010 and held on Saturdays.
“The meet always indicated very popular interest and registration was high, though not many attended the meet itself,” Abelon said. “Lynn Parks and Recreation and Public Schools wanted a running event that would provide service to as many as possible. The decision was to discard the cross country event and have a running event held during school hours. Thus, the Lynn 5th Grade Track Meet held its first event in 2014.”
Nearly 1,000 5th-graders compete. The event was held across four days (May and June) with four or five schools competing each day.
It’s considered the nation’s largest elementary school outdoor track meet of its kind, according to Abelon.
Each athlete competes in one individual running event (50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, mile). They may choose one field event as well – either the softball throw or standing long jump.
All can compete in the 4x100m relay.
“The meet would not be possible without the input from Lisa Nerich of the DPW (Department of Public Works) and Colleen Peterson of Public Schools,” Abelon said. “Three Massachusetts track and field officials are hired to officiate key roles: a starter, finish judge, and timer. In addition, additional event staff are needed to collect the finishing bibs determined by the finish judge to measure the 500 standing long jumps, 1,400 softball throws, and 30-40 heats of the 4x100m relay. The additional event staff of some 40 students per day were from the Lynn Classical, Lynn Tech, and Lynn English ROTC programs.”
