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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>GraceKennedy commits $42M to Champs</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>DANIA BOGLE, Observer staff reporter
Friday, January 05, 2007
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>GraceKennedy chairman and CEO Douglas Orane (left) in conversation with ISSA president Clement Radcliffe (centre) and Wolmer's Boys' principal Dave Myrie yesterday. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Corporate giant GraceKennedy has come on board as the new title sponsor of the annual Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships in a partnership worth US$200,000 (J$42 million) over three years.
GraceKennedy and the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) made the announcement yesterday, less than a week after long-time sponsor Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) announced its withdrawal.
The GraceKennedy ISSA Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships, as the event will be known, will be held from March 28-31 and will cost J$14 million per annum.
The three-month build-up to the event has been dubbed "The Road to Champs" and will feature a number of events showcasing products under the GraceKennedy banner.
VMBS announced last week that it did not see the Championships as part of its new thrust and withdrew its title sponsorship, ending its 14-year partnership with ISSA, which began in 1992.
ISSA president Clement Radcliffe said it was a coincidence that the school sports governing body and VMBS had adjusted their strategy at the same time and made it necessary for the body to look at other outlets for sponsorship.
"We began to restructure our whole philosophy of this sponsorship, so therefore we look to the other companies that have interest that would be able to look at what we were asking,"he said.
Chairman and chief executive officer Douglas Orane told the Observer that he found ISSA to be a very professionally run body.
"... So when they (ISSA) approached us, we were delighted because we were looking for a way to give back to Jamaica, particularly the young people," he said.
"This event reaches out to young people right across Jamaica so it really is a very mutually beneficial synergistic relationship," Orane added.
GraceKennedy already sponsors the Corporate Area schoolboy cricket competition through the 'Grace Shield' and 'Jamaica International Insurance Company Knockout' competitions.
Meanwhile, Championships Chairman Dave Myrie, who also serves as principal of Wolmer's Boys' School, said security would again be high on this year's agenda.
Independence Park Limited (IPL), the company that manages the National Stadium which houses the event announced late last year that it would be taking over security at the facility by February 1 this year.
Myrie said ISSA and IPL had already held talks regarding the new security plans.
As many as four security companies were placed with the responsibility of last year's meet, and Myrie said most, if not all, measures used last year would again be in place.
Radcliffe told the Observer that security costs last year had been between J$4-5 million.
"It will be a separate negotiation and discussion with them (IPL) to cover Champs, over and above the framework that they put in place," he said.
Meanwhile, GraceKennedy's marketing manager Noel Greenland said the company would be highlighting several of its brands in 14 of the 15 athletic meetings leading to the Championships.
"Champs for us is not just an event, it's a process, and the process starts today, so we have to capitalise on that," he said.
Greenland told the Observer that fo
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>DANIA BOGLE, Observer staff reporter
Friday, January 05, 2007
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=350 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>GraceKennedy chairman and CEO Douglas Orane (left) in conversation with ISSA president Clement Radcliffe (centre) and Wolmer's Boys' principal Dave Myrie yesterday. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Corporate giant GraceKennedy has come on board as the new title sponsor of the annual Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships in a partnership worth US$200,000 (J$42 million) over three years.
GraceKennedy and the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) made the announcement yesterday, less than a week after long-time sponsor Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) announced its withdrawal.
The GraceKennedy ISSA Boys' and Girls' Athletic Championships, as the event will be known, will be held from March 28-31 and will cost J$14 million per annum.
The three-month build-up to the event has been dubbed "The Road to Champs" and will feature a number of events showcasing products under the GraceKennedy banner.
VMBS announced last week that it did not see the Championships as part of its new thrust and withdrew its title sponsorship, ending its 14-year partnership with ISSA, which began in 1992.
ISSA president Clement Radcliffe said it was a coincidence that the school sports governing body and VMBS had adjusted their strategy at the same time and made it necessary for the body to look at other outlets for sponsorship.
"We began to restructure our whole philosophy of this sponsorship, so therefore we look to the other companies that have interest that would be able to look at what we were asking,"he said.
Chairman and chief executive officer Douglas Orane told the Observer that he found ISSA to be a very professionally run body.
"... So when they (ISSA) approached us, we were delighted because we were looking for a way to give back to Jamaica, particularly the young people," he said.
"This event reaches out to young people right across Jamaica so it really is a very mutually beneficial synergistic relationship," Orane added.
GraceKennedy already sponsors the Corporate Area schoolboy cricket competition through the 'Grace Shield' and 'Jamaica International Insurance Company Knockout' competitions.
Meanwhile, Championships Chairman Dave Myrie, who also serves as principal of Wolmer's Boys' School, said security would again be high on this year's agenda.
Independence Park Limited (IPL), the company that manages the National Stadium which houses the event announced late last year that it would be taking over security at the facility by February 1 this year.
Myrie said ISSA and IPL had already held talks regarding the new security plans.
As many as four security companies were placed with the responsibility of last year's meet, and Myrie said most, if not all, measures used last year would again be in place.
Radcliffe told the Observer that security costs last year had been between J$4-5 million.
"It will be a separate negotiation and discussion with them (IPL) to cover Champs, over and above the framework that they put in place," he said.
Meanwhile, GraceKennedy's marketing manager Noel Greenland said the company would be highlighting several of its brands in 14 of the 15 athletic meetings leading to the Championships.
"Champs for us is not just an event, it's a process, and the process starts today, so we have to capitalise on that," he said.
Greenland told the Observer that fo
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