MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Organisers say all is set for the 32-year-old annual High Mountain Coffee Road Race festival which takes place in Williamsfield, central Manchester on January 25.

Entries at $1,000 each are being invited for the flagship 10K run, 5K run and 5K walk. Wheelchair participants have also been invited, organisers say.

Head of the organising committee, John O Minott, told a press launch at the Mandeville Regional Hospital last week that last year’s 10K winner, Andrew Brodeur, of US Shore Athletics Club, has said he will defend his title.

Also expected back is 2012 10K winner, American Danielle Tauro, who missed last year’s event because of injury.

Cash prizes total $350,000 with top prizes of $40,000 for men’s and women’s 10K winners.

For the third year in a row, proceeds from the 5K walk will go to the Mandeville Regional Hospital Renal Unit to purchase dialysis equipment and supplies for patients suffering kidney failure.

CEO of the Mandeville Regional Hospital, Alwyn Miller, said the assistance from the road race has been of great help to the cash-strapped renal unit in Mandeville.

“The partnership with High Mountain has been very significant … as for the last two years the hospital has benefited from donations which have been most timely,” he said.

Miller urged as many people and organisations as possible, including health-care institutions, the business community, churches and community leaders, to participate in the road race as part of the drive to raise funds for the renal unit.

That apart, Miller said people should participate in the road race “for your own health … we [Mandeville Regional Hospital] as an institution have challenges with meeting the demand of patients with renal failure. We want to encourage everybody to remain as healthy as you can [through physical exercise],” he said.

He also urged Jamaicans who are unable to attend on the 25th of January, including those abroad, to contribute to the renal unit.

Maurice Westney, meet director, said the annual High Mountain 10K has been a long-standing nursery for Jamaican middle and long-distance runners.

The annual event which pulls large crowds to Williamsfield every year is among the features of Manchester’s events calendar.

Sponsors for this year’s event include Lucozade Sports, Power Services Company Ltd, the Jamaica Observer, CVM TV, Power 106FM, Irie FM, Jamaica Drip Irrigation, Mitchell Elliott & Associates, KLAS Sports Radio, Fence Masters, The Mandeville Hotel, Bulhead Mountain Spring Water, Sanco’s Trucking, 20twenty Promotions & Events.

— Garfield Myers