DIGICEL has announced that over 40 athletes with record-breaking performances in the qualifying meets for the Grand Prix will be awarded with scholarships of $20,000 each.

This outlay follows the immaculate performances at the Youngster Goldsmith Classic, the Camperdown Classic, the Western Championships, the Central Championships and the Anthrick Corporate Area Development Meet, all of which are part of the Grand Prix series.

At the Corporate Area meet, the boys from Calabar dominated, smashing a total of five records in the Class Two category in the 100m, 200m, 400m and long jump and one record in the Class Four 100m.

The final record for the school came from Christopher Taylor in the 400m at the Youngster Goldsmith meet where he ran the stupendous time of 46.87 seconds.

On Sunday, at the Carifta Trials, Taylor set a world youth best of 45.69 seconds.

Up next is Edwin Allen High School with five records broken — four of which happened at Central Championships where the team won by a huge margin.

St Jago, Kingston College, Wolmer’s Girls, Excelsior High and Camperdown High are among the other schools with athletes who will be receiving scholarships.

The Grand Prix final will be held at the National Stadium today during the GC Foster Classic. Athletes who break meet records in the Grand Prix events there will also receive scholarships.

Kamal Powell, senior sponsorship and development manager at Digicel said: “Our schools are overflowing with talented athletes and all they need is the right support to develop and truly hone their skills, and that’s what we’re doing with these prizes of scholarships for the students and gym equipment for the schools.”

In addition to the top prize of $1-million in gym equipment, the first place winner in the Grand Prix events will receive a Digicel smartphone complete with a data plan while the second and third place winners will receive Internet devices.

The coaches will not be left out as the head coach from the champion male and female school will be cashing out with a $50,000 cheque.

Like the five regional qualifying meets, the first to third place top boy and girl schools at the GC Foster Classics will be given $250,000, $100,000 and $50,000 in cash, respectively.

“Track and field can be a very costly sport, for both students and the schools,” said Powell. “We want to encourage those promising students in the sport and help the schools to develop and maintain a strong, well-equipped sports programme. We think that these prizes in the Digicel Grand Prix are very fitting incentives for achieving these goals.”

Schools can also win big in the Digicel Grand Prix vote-to-win promotion. People are encouraged to vote for their favourite school to win million dollars towards a sports programme. People may cast their votes by simply texting the name of their school to 444-2457, with each vote costing $10. Or they may visit the Digicel Facebook page and use the voting app for free. Voting will close at 11:59 pm today.