The fifth staging of the Ben Francis Invitational Track and Field Meet runs off today at the ground of Vere Technical High School in Hayes, Clarendon, starting at 9:00 am.

The event is expected to be graced by the presence of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) vice-president Lord Sebastian Coe, who should be in the island as guest of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) president Dr Warren Blake.

Coe, 58, is seeking the IAAF presidency and recently launched his manifesto for the election promising a transformation of the athletics calendar, attracting more young people via “street athletics”, and setting up an ethics department for the sport. His visit is specifically geared towards assessing the overall state and development of track and field in Jamaica.

Another athletics great, Veronica Campbell-Brown, a past student of Vere Technical, will be this year’s honoree. She is a seven-time Olympic medallist and only the second woman in history to win two consecutive 200m titles in 2004 and 2008.

Campbell Brown, 32, who holds personal bests of 10.76 seconds for the 100m and 21.74 seconds for the 200m, also won the 100m at the 2007 World Championship in Osaka, Japan.

Meanwhile, action on the track is scheduled to start at 9:00 am with the female javelin open in the field and the female 2000m steeplechase on the track. The meet should be completed by 6:45 pm with the 4x100m relay for clubs and institutions.

There will be six high school championship events, with the winning schools receiving $40,000. On the boys’ side, the events are 2,000m steeplechase, Class One 400m and the Class One 4x100m relay. The females will contest the Class One 100m, high jump Class One and the 4x400m relay open.

Last year 28 records were broken.