THIRTY-FIVE journalists associated with 12 overseas media outlets from Europe, Asia and North America have been accredited to cover the 100th staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships set for March 24 to 27 at the National Stadium in Kingston.

Communication consultant with meet organisers ISSA, Ed Barnes, told the Observer that the interest by foreign media houses in the Jamaica high school track and field championships, which is revered worldwide, has been impressive.

“It’s somewhere in the region of 10 and 12 companies, the numbers of actual persons who will come is somewhere in the region of about 3,5 as far as coverage is concerned,” Barnes disclosed.

Last year a record 40 international sports journalists covered the 99th edition of the championships.

“We will have for instance full coverage from the BBC Radio, who are going to be doing their… Sports World programme that is aired across the world on both the Saturday and Sunday from here in Jamaica. They will actually be broadcasting from elsewhere, but will do all the work from the stadium because of the difference in time,” he explained.

“We also have people from Sports Illustrated and a lot of Europeans; the French TV and Spanish TV have both made contact and we have some other TV outlets from North America that have also expressed an interest to be here, who we are trying to work with,” Barnes added.

The North America media outlets confirmed for the four-day Championships are Sports Illustrated, Reuters News Agency and US Fitness; The Guardian Newspaper and BBC Radio are the representatives from the United Kingdom; FP TV is coming from France, Popeye Magazine out of Japan, as well as FHM Magazine and Milk Magazine out of China.

Barnes indicated that an additional 63 media outlets comprising radio stations, newspapers and small magazines will be providing coverage of the event.

“To add everybody from overseas to what we have here, we are talking about 100 people (accredited). But as far as companies go, we’ll have approximately 75 in total,” he said.

Due to the limited space available to media workers in the grandstand of the 30,000-seater stadium, Barnes indicated that special arrangements are being made to accommodate the overflow.

“That is posing its own share of problems (but) we are working with it. What we did last time (2009)… we were able to put a press tent down stairs and then get another area in the grandstand as the press lounge which had a television feed and then we were able to accommodate them that way,” he said.

“To be truthful, a lot of the foreign press don’t mind standing around, they just want to be apart of the atmosphere, they want to be part of what is happening here because it’s something they’ve never seen and those who are coming back, want to see it again,” Barnes reasoned.