The New York Relays, sponsored by the Randall's Island Sports Foundation, are held at Icahn Stadium on Randall's Island in New York City, just across the East River from Manhattan.

This is the fourth year in recent history for the Relays. The first New York Relays was founded in 1966 by Joe Fox of Fordham Prep and several other Catholic High School Association coaches. The first meet was held in Downing Stadium on Randall's Island the same weekend as the Penn Relays.

Dr. Norbert Sander writes in "The Rebirth of the NY Relays", on the New York Armory web site that, "Coach Fox felt that New York schools were under-appreciated at Penn and decided to go head to head with them. With some gentle arm-twisting, many New York City schools stayed home and the first New York Relays sponsored by the New York Daily News was a tremendous success with over 10,000 spectators in attendance. The rift with Penn was quickly healed and the New York Relays moved to the week before Penn, just as this year. Hampered by the crumbling facilities at Downing Stadium, the New York Relays were discontinued in 1984.

The Randall's Island Sports Foundation was founded in 1992 as a public-private partnership to work on behalf of Randall's Island Park. II conjunction with City leadership, the Foundation is working to develop sports and recreational facilities including restoring its vast natural environment, reclaiming and maintaining parkland, and sponsoring community-linked programs for the children of New York City. As part of the history of Randall's Island, the New York Relays fits into the Foundation's mission.

The revived New York Relays of today enjoy the fantastic facilities of Icahn Stadium, one of only two Class 1 internationally certified tracks in the United States. The Stadium has a very fast 400 meter Mondo surface running track, with covered spectator seating for 5,000. It also has anti-doping facilities, modern locker rooms, and fitness, exercise and meeting rooms. The Stadium also includes a modern dance studio to provide a broad spectrum of activities for children and young adults.

Icahn Stadium replaces Downing Stadium which was built on the same site in 1936 as part of a larger New York City Parks project which included the construction of the Triborough Bridge. The new stadium made history as host of the 1936 U.S. Olympic Trials, at which Jesse Owens qualified for the Berlin Olympics where he upstaged Hitler's athletes. Downing Stadium was torn down in 2002 to make way for the Icahn Stadium.

(Sources: Randall's Island Sports Foundation, Wikipedia, NY Armory and IAAF web sites)