Top club runs away with $1M at Boyce/Jefford Classic VII

Jul 24, 2016 Sports

-Championship officially launched at Giftland Mall

The winning club of the 2016 Boyce and Jefford Track and Field Classic VII will run away with a whopping $1M prize while about $3M in total prize money will be up for grabs on August 27-28 at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground, Linden
This was disclosed yesterday when the event was officially launched at the Sports Maxx Store at the Giftland Mall. The event will be held just after the Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and will see Guyana’s top performing clubs handsomely rewarded.
The prize money will continue all the way to fourth place, with the second place finisher taking home $500, 000. Third place is set to receive $300, 000, while fourth place will walk away with $200, 000 for a total of $2M for the club prizes.
In addition, there are eight international races that carry a total purse of $100,000 each for a total of $800,000. The Masters’ and Media races amount to $110,000 in total prize money while there will be $50,000 each doled out to the Champion Male and Female athletes.
The sums carry the prize monies up for grabs over $3M. Chairman of the Boyce/Jefford Track & Field Committee, Colin Boyce, a former athlete, reminded those present that the event was born with the idea of aiding in the development of athletes by providing them with a means to earn the much-needed financial support.
“Athletics deserves much more than what we’re receiving now, and we thought it fit that we, as former athletes, recognise the need to put cash prizes into the coffers of the clubs because of the arduous training that the athletes have to go through,” Boyce said.
“We would have seen the other sporting events receiving healthy cash prizes, and so we thought of this meet and this year, we would have seen the need to increase the cash prizes to the healthy $1M first prize,” Boyce added.
He pointed out that not only giving the athletes monetary support, as the event continues to grow the organisers will be looking at further ways to help the athletes.
According to Boyce, that’s one reason that the international events have improved from six to eight.
The other international events carded for the Championship are the Women 200m, 1500m, triple jump and javelin, along with the Men 200m, 800m, long jump and javelin.
Thus far, athletes are confirmed from Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda and the United States.
Director of Sport, Christopher Jones commended the organisers for their continued effort with the meet, stating that Government is committed to the development of sports. Jones said that the event will benefit from lots of support in a collaborative effort between the National Sports Commission, Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Linden Municipality.
Edison Jefford informed that the event would not be possible without the support of sponsors and as such he named Digicel, E-Networks, K&B Mining, Courts, Giftland Mall, Ansa McAl with its Smalta brand, National Sports Commission, Fly Jamaica, Caribbean Airline and Jai Signs/Design as early contributors.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News