SAGICOR Life Jamaica yesterday renewed its support of the 2013 Jamaica Teacher’s Association (JTA) schools athletics meet to the tune of $4.5 million.

The 30th staging of the event, dubbed the JTA/Sagicor National Primary, All-Age and Junior High Schools Athletics Championships, is scheduled for May 16 and May 17 at the National Stadium, and is expected to welcome approximately 1,200 athletes.

All 14 parishes will vie for the national title in the Under-9, Under-11, Under-13, Under-15 and Under-17 age group categories. Each parish can enter a maximum of 90 athletes across many disciplines, including sprints and middle distances races, as well as field events.

The defending national champions are Portland, who also won the title in 2007 and 2011. St Andrew were the winners in 2010.

JTA boss Clayton Hall who, along with other speakers, touted the significance of the championship, asked that “all well-thinking Jamaicans in the corporate world assist in athletics” and to “put money where their mouth is”.

According to an event’s news release, the majority of Jamaica’s international athletes within the last two decades are products of these championships.

It named Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell Brown, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Yohan Blake, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Kerron Stewart, Sherone Simpson as past participants.

Sagicor’s sponsorships and public relations manager Alysia White said her company will also be handing academic scholarships to the meet’s top boy and girl, since not all the youngsters will become Olympic and World Championship gold medallists.

“Not everybody is going to be a Shelly-Ann; not everybody is going to be a Usain Bolt. That is why Sagicor — to the champion boy and girl — donates a scholarship for $100,000 towards their academics,” she told the Jamaica Observer during the launch at the JTA’s Church Street headquarters.

Last year’s champion boy was Gavayne Smith of Westmoreland, while the girls’ category was headed by St Andrew’s Tizadie Johnson.

Aside from title sponsors Sagicor, supporters of the event are the Jamaica Observer and the JTA Co-Op Credit Union.

The Observer’s marketing manager Avadaugn Sinclair said her company is pleased to partner with the JTA in making the meet a possibility.

“We are pleased to sponsor this meet… we are always focused on child development and education, especially in the holistic development of the child and I think this is an important grass-roots (programme) … more corporate companies need to come on board and support something like this,” Sinclair said.

Chairman of the sports committee Huit Johnson, who boasted that the meet is “not confined to any one parish” and has facilitated the unearthing of “talent across the island”, told this newspaper that it is usually “one of the best run” in Jamaica.

The meet is scheduled to start at 9:00 am on day one and 11:00 am on day two. Organisers assured that competition should be wrapped up by 5:00 pm on both days.

Entry on the opening day will be free of charge. However, it will cost $100 and $200 for children and adults, respectively, to enter the venue on the final day.