The Millrose Games are an annual indoor athletics (track & field) meet held each February in New York City. Among the world's most prestigious indoor track meets, the games started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011.[1]
The games were started when employees of the New York City branch of Wanamaker's department store formed the Millrose Track Club to hold a meet.
Today, the Millrose Games feature elite competitions for athletes at all levels, including youth, masters, high school, collegiate, and professional levels.[2]
The Millrose Games began in 1908 at a local armory the same year when its parent, the Millrose Athletic Association, was formed as a recreational club by the employees of the John Wanamaker Department Store. "Millrose" was the name of the country home of Rodman Wanamaker in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania.
In 1914, after overflowing the armory the year before, the Millrose Games moved to Madison Square Garden, and until 2011 was the oldest continuous sporting event held there. For 10 years beginning in 1916, the Wanamaker 1 ½ Mile race was a highlight of the meet. Run for the last time in 1925, the final edition was won by Paavo Nurmi, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist from Finland. In 1926, the distance was shortened, and the Wanamaker Mile was born. It has often been run at 10 p.m., a carryover from the days beginning in the 1930s when noted sports announcer Ted Husing would broadcast the race live on his 10 p.m. radio show.
Some highlights in Millrose history include Ray Conger's 1929 upset win over Nurmi in the Wanamaker Mile; pole vaulter Cornelius Warmerdam becoming the first person to vault 15 feet (4.6 m) indoors, in 1942; John Thomas hitting the first 7-foot (2.1 m) high jump, in 1959; Mary Decker’s run to a 1500-meter World Indoor Record to encouragement from the crowd, in 1980; John Uelses becoming the first person to pole vault the height of 16 feet; Carl Lewis in 1984 breaking the World Indoor Record with a jump of 28 feet (8.5 m), 10.25 inches, a mark that still stands; Eamonn Coghlan notching his then record seventh Wanamaker Mile in 1987; Bernard Lagat breaking Coghlan's record with his eighth Wanamaker Mile triumph in 2010, and Stacy Dragila setting a late-night pole vault world record in 2001.
For 70 of its first 96 years, the role of Millrose meet director was a father-son affair: Fred Schmertz directed the meet in 1934, passing on that position to his son Howard in 1975. In 2003, the title of Meet Director Emeritus was bestowed on the younger Schmertz.
In May 2011 Norbert Sanders, the President of the Millrose Games, announced that, starting January 2012, the games would be moved to the Armory in Washington Heights, at 168th Street, and that a new all-day Saturday schedule would replace the Friday evening format.[4]
The Millrose Games, operated by The Armory Foundation, are also notable for their rigid anti-doping policies. In 2017, Millrose race director Ray Flynn told an ESPN reporter, "We have a mandate that we don't invite any athlete that has had any drug history in their past. We want to keep our meet free of any athlete that really has a violation."[5]
Statistics
The most prolific winner in event history is Loren Murchison, a sprinter who won 13 titles between 1919 and 1926. He is followed by pole vaulter Bob Richards (11), hurdler Greg Foster and 500-600-800m runner Mark Everett (10), and hurdler Harrison Dillard and miler Eamonn Coghlan (9). Coghlan’s total includes seven Wanamaker Mile victories and two Masters Mile wins.
Four women share the honor of most Millrose wins at eight apiece: 400-meter runner Diane Dixon, whose eight victories include five straight from 1988–1992; middle-distance runner Jearl Miles-Clark; shot putter Connie Price-Smith; and high jumper Tisha Waller.
202 athletes share the distinction of being both Millrose Games and Olympic champions.
^Alfons Juck, Kevin Mangan (17 February 2014). "EME News February 16th". www.american-trackandfield.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
^"Mile Walk Result". www.results.nyrrmillrosegames.org. 15 February 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
^"Women's 4×200m Relay Results". Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS). 11 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
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2024 Millrose Games
