(From left) ISSA president, Dr Walton Small (left), Calabar athlete, Ramone McKenzie, GraceKennedy's Douglas Orane and JAAA head, Howard Aris, at yesterday's ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys' & Girls' Champs launch at Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood)

THE perennial matter of security will be high on the agenda for the annual ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys' & Girls' Athletic Championships, with 20 per cent of the J$8.3-million budget for the 2008 event, which will take place from March 12-15 at the National Stadium, geared towards security.

Champs Chairman, Clement Radcliffe, speaking at yesterday's launch of the island's biggest track & field meeting at the Knutsford Court Hotel, said no more than 24,000 tickets will be sold for the bleachers section of the National Stadium.

Independence Park Limited general manager, Major Desmon Brown, told the Observer the National Stadium has a seating capacity of 30,000, with 5,404 of those seats in the Grandstand.

Radcliffe also told the Observer that among the security measures will be a re-do of identification cards for all students, with no IDs from previous years being accepted for entry to the facility.

The Glenmuir High School principal also said there would be tighter gate management security.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Owen Ellington, said there will be external policing around venues close to the National Stadium and traffic free zones around the venue, especially on Friday and Saturday, the two biggest days in terms of spectatorship at the Championships.

Three firms - Ranger, Atlas and Hawkeye- will be in charge of security at the facility, which will also be manned by personnel from the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
Radcliffe said to be best of his knowledge, 15,000 tickets were sold for the final day of last year's meet.

However, while there were complaints in some sections that the National Stadium was empty, Radcliffe said there had been concerns about safety and fire hazard as many of the aisles were blocked by the end of the day's proceedings.

Seventy-six girls' and 87 boys' schools will participate in this year's event, which is in its 99th year, but the second of a three-year deal with title sponsors GraceKennedy, who are injecting US$215,000 into the meet this year.

GraceKennedy are also behind a song entitled 'Hol A Vibe', produced especially for the Championships, which will be its theme song.

"Our involvement is because we see this as an investment in the young people of Jamaica and... a way of developing the attributes not only to be great athletes, but to be good citizens," company CEO & chairman, Douglas Orane, told the Observer.

Among the athletes competing will be Ramone McKenzie of boys' champions Calabar and Bobby-Gaye Wilkins of girls
champions Holmwood Technical.
Holmwood coach, Maurice Wilson, said he is looking for good things from his fairly young team this year.

"I think it's going to be a very good championships for us... the team is young but we have been training hard and I've seen improvements over the last three or four weeks," he told the Observer.

ISSA president, Dr Walton Small, who was elected last year and will be in charge of his first Championships, told the Observer it was a challenging task made easier with the input of an experienced team.

"The job seemed awesome at first, but... the volunteers and the experience of the planning committee has made it tremendously easy," he said.

Tickets go on sale soon and will cost $2,200 for the season, $200 for adults and $50 for children on Wednesday and Thursday; $1,100 for the Grandstand and $350 for the bleachers on Friday, and $1,500 for the Grandstand and $700 for the bleachers on Saturday.

However, students may purchase tickets at concessionary rates of $500 through their schools for Saturday's final day of competition.

Tickets will be available at Rapid True Value, Agro Grace, Hi Lo Food Stores, ISS for Season Tickets and the Ticket Office at the National Stadium.

The Champs Committee will honour four persons this year - athletes Frank Hall and Audrey Reid, official Marva Green and coach Michael Dyke.

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