As a runner, I found Paul Wilcox’s talk tonight particularly interesting. I haven’t competed in a track event since high school, but listening to Mr. Wilcox talk about track and field and watching old videos of races made me want to get back out there on the track.

Mr. Wilcox discussed the history of The Transatlantic Series, a competition in which university track and field athletes from the US and the UK cross the ocean to compete against each other. Started in 1894, two years before the first Olympic Games, The Transatlantic Series has been bringing students from different cultures together for over a century. It not only gives students an opportunity to get to know athletes from across the Atlantic, but also from other schools within their own country, since the competition places rival schools on the same team, such as Cornell and Penn vs. Oxford and Cambridge.

Participating in The Transatlantic Series sounds like an incredible experience, allowing students to compete against new competitors and learn about differences between the two cultures. In a world where countries are always in disagreement, it is amazing how events like the Transatlantic Series, the Olympic Games, and the World Cup are able to bring people together from rival schools or rival countries over a common love of excelling at their sport.