The fourth staging of the Camperdown Classic, dubbed the "Showcase of Sprinters", will take place on February 9 at the Stadium East facility.

The annual event which was launched at the Hilton Kingston Hotel yesterday will, this year, honour past student and Olympic 200 metres gold medallist, Donald Quarrie.

Principal Cynthia Cooke said she need not mention who Donald is to the Jamaican audience. "However, we wish to remind all that he is a past student of Camperdown High School," she said.

"He was a part of the then male population of just over 100 boys at the school. The impact this small school made at Boys Athletics Championships was remarkable. The 'Sprint Factory' was to start production then," she added.

Camperdown has over the years produced some of the fastest runners namely Quarrie, Leroy Reid, Raymond Stewart, Andrew Smith, Carey Johnson and Remaldo Rose.

Howard Aris, president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), was the guest speaker at yesterday's launch and he outlined the importance of education and sports in today's world.

"Sports has a unique place in the school. Education and sports are locked together and not to be separated. Camperdown should be applauded for achieving those two things," he noted.

This year two teams from the Cayman Islands will match strides with the local schools.

There will be prize money of $100,000 which is to be shared among the top three teams of the boys' and girls' Class One 4x100m.

The winner will receive $60,000, with $25,000 and $15,000 for second and third place respectively.

The 400m for high schools has been dropped from this year's event and will only have an invitational 400 metres for men and women.

"This is to make sure that we finished at a reasonable time. We expect a large number of entries for the 100 metres. We keep listening to our participants and our spectators. They are the ones who advice we use to try and improve on our performance each year," noted Cooke.

The Camperdown Classic is an annual event that is a precursor to the Boys' and Girls' Championship and is also used as a qualification meet.

Over 100 schools participated last year. The entrance fee will be $200 and the event is scheduled to start at 8:30 am.

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