Mount Vernon announces first series of track and field events at Memorial Field in decades

The first year of the new Memorial Field in Mount Vernon has brought back football, jogging and tennis - and even introduced rugby to the city.

Now track and field is ready for its return with a series of meets this summer.

The Mount Vernon Track & Field Twilight Series will run for four consecutive Thursdays beginning July 27, thanks to a $25,000 sponsorship from Montefiore Einstein that was announced Tuesday at the field.

"Mount Vernon Stadium will finally become the epicenter and home to the track and field enthusiasts in Mount Vernon and the tri-state area," Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard said. "Together we're creating more and more opportunities for our residents to engage in sports, showcase their talents and increase their wellness and most importantly lead very active and productive lives."

The city and its high school have always boasted a strong record of turning out top-flight competitors, including the recent successes of world class runners Rai Benjamin and Deeajah Stevens.

Reginald Jordan, the new vice president and executive director of Montefiore Mount Vernon Hospital, said Montefiore Einstein's participation in the track series and other similar events in the future highlighted its commitment to "extending care outside the walls of our hospitals and directly to the communities we serve."

"From our youngest athletes today to those still young at heart we can all find benefits from increased physical activity," he said.

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The city's iconic recreation and entertainment venue sat dormant for nearly two decades after it fell into disrepair and rebuilding projects were stalled by altered plans, squandered resources and illegally dumped debris.

Westchester County's second effort to rebuild it wrapped up last year, a $40 million project that added new grandstands for 3,900 spectators, an all-purpose field with an 8-lane track, a skate park, tennis court, lockers, concession stands and a plaza entrance at the corner of East Sandford Boulevard and Garden Avenue.

High school football games were played in the fall and the track opened on a daily basis for runners and walkers in February. The New York Ironworkers of Major League Rugby used the field this year for practice and its home matches.

The series will mark the first time the city is using Memorial Field for track and field events in more than three decades. But the track got a dress rehearsal for organized meets in May when Dewitt Clinton High School in the Bronx hosted its annual Howard Richter Invitational there.

The events are from 4 to 9 pm and will feature competitions in sprints, hurdles, relay races, high jump and long jump. They are open to individuals regardless of whether they are affiliated with track programs and there will be divisions for elementary school through high school with an open division planned for adults. To sign up, set up an account at www.athletic.net and search under track and field for the Memorial Stadium Twilight Series. Registration is open until noon the date of the event.

Representatives of two prominent Mount Vernon track clubs, Hall's Express and Project Achilles, were on hand Tuesday to thank city and hospital officials for opening the track to a wide variety of competitors.

Sherlon Bacchus, co-director of Project Achilles, likened the event to a grain of sand that eventually becomes a pearl, a seemingly mundane detail that will be the starting point to big track and field events in the future.

"We have a state-of-the-art stadium and we would like to use it to its full potential and showcase what Mount Vernon is about and what track & field's about," he said.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Memorial Field to host Twilight Series track series in Mount Vernon