WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Thousands of track and field fans trekked uptown over the weekend to celebrate and honor the sport’s best athletes and welcome the 105th annual Millrose Games to its new home.
The sold-out crowd attended the event at the packed New Balance Armory Track Center on Fort Washington Avenue and West 168th Street in the heart of Washington Heights, making it the largest sporting event to be held north of 125th Street in Manhattan in 55 years.
The games had historically been held at Madison Square Garden beginning in 1914 until last year when they were moved. Throughout the weekend, the Empire State Building was lit blue and white 134 blocks south of the Armory to mark the 105th annual event.
Organizers hoped to hold the event in a space that was more suited for the audience. Previously the audience barely filled a third of the large arena, leaving the Games to lose approximately $500,000 per year as it drew in fewer than 10,000 fans yearly, according to the New York Times.
Cutting its losses, the Millrose Board passed the reins to the Armory Foundation this year.
Saturday's meet was sold out and was largely said to be a great success.
"Certainly, like a lot of others, when I heard they were moving Millrose out of the Garden, I had my doubts, but they’re all gone now,” Marcus O’Sullivan, head coach at Villanova and three-time indoor 1,500-meter champ, told organizers. “I've now been convinced it's a great move."
Runners also made history at the meet with hundreds of runners trying their best in the 60,000-square-foot indoor arena, most notably with eight-time winner of the Wanamaker Mile Bernard Lagat’s record-breaking sprint, which broke the U.S. record for fastest run in the 5,000-meter category.
