Which short word names a gathering of athletes for racing, as in "track ___" or "swim ___"?

A nameless prototype of which cartoon character appeared in the 1938 cartoon "Porky's Hare Hunt"? Which Asian desert covers roughly 500,000 square miles of Mongolia and northern China? Many adoption programs find homes for which dogs once they retire from racing? An assassin shot President William McKinley at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in which city? What is the general term for a fictitious name used by an author? Which asteroidean echinoderm is a common sight in tide pools? Which word names an astronomical event and also means "to surpass"? Sweden's future King Gustaf VI Adolf, an athlete in his youth, helped organize the 1912 Olympics in which city?