There Will Be No Paul Short Run This Year


The Paul Short Run has been canceled, Lehigh University announced on Friday.

The move comes after the Patriot League, of which Lehigh is a member school of, made the decision to cancel the fall sports season earlier last week. These cancelations are in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

"The safety of all of those that attend the event is Lehigh's highest priority and it is not feasible at this point for Lehigh to present a safe environment while maintaining the expected scope of competitive races associated with the Paul Short Run," the release said.

Paul Short is routinely one of the top college and high school cross country invitationals in Pennsylvania each season. According to Lehigh, the meet features over 6,000 athletes from 450 college and high schools each year. The course is known to produce some of the region's fastest 5K times of the season. At last year's Paul Short Run, Karrie Baloga of Cornwall (NY) set the girls' course record with a time of 16:59.

This marks another high-profile meet cancelation in PA. Earlier this month, PTXC 12 was canceled amid the pandemic.

Any other cancelation announcements can be sent to editor Dan Beck at daniel.beck@flosports.tv.

Take a virtual tour of Lehigh's 5K course below.