THE Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) had to reshuffle its calendar to accommodate the inaugural staging of the Stafford Wycliffe (SW) Isaac-Henry Track and Field Invitational meet scheduled for February 21 at the National Stadium.

The meet, named in honour of former principal of St Andrew Technical High School, the late Isaac-Henry, was launched at the Knutsford Court Hotel yesterday.

The event, which is under the stewardship of JAAA’s general secretary Garth Gayle, acts as a qualifier for the Boys’ & Girls’ Athletics Championships.

The event will commence at 8:15 am, and admission is $200. Seating will be at the Grandstand only.

Entry fee for co-ed teams is $11,000, boys’ teams is $7,000 as well as for the girls’ teams and individuals unattached is $500. Registration closes on February 18, Ash Wednesday.

The honorees for the meet are former Olympians Michael Fray and Ruth Williams-Simpson.

Speaking at the launch, Sian Scott-Archibald, sales and promotion manager from main sponsor Tropical Blue Natural Spring Water, gave her company’s commitment to the event.

“MikiAyana Company Limited, our bottlers and distributors of Tropical Blue Natural Spring Water, is pleased to be a major partner of this inaugural staging of the SW Isaac-Henry Track and Field Invitational meet. Even in these harsh economic times, it is our company’s mandate to not only provide a positive return for our investors, but to also align ourselves with activities that promote youth development and nation-building, while acting as excellent corporate citizens.

“As a bottled water company, one could say that to be associated with a track and field meet would be a no-brainer. After all, at any such meet our product will be high on the needs list for all stakeholders and participants and, therefore, the partnership with the SW Isaac-Henry Track and Field Invitational meet was considered very important to us,” she said.

Chairman of the SW Isaac-Henry Track and Field Invitational Barrington Johnson welcomed the sponsorship from Tropical Blue Natural Spring Water, and all the other sponsors.

“To our partners, we thank you for your confidence in supporting and joining us in launching this meet, especially Tropical Blue Natural Spring Water, as we look forward to a very successful meet,” he said.

Fray, who was a member of the Jamaican silver medal-winning 4×100 team at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, held in Kingston 1966, told the Jamaica Observer that: “It is a great feeling to be honoured as my work over the years is being appreciated.”