TELECOMMUNICATIONS firm LIME has again renewed its partnership with the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Championship.

LIME’s Kim Lee, head of channel marketing, sponsorships and promotions, said that it has been an honour for the telecommunications provider to be able to invest in an event that has become a staple on the sports calendars, the ideal avenue for the expression of school spirit as well as a huge contributor to youth development.

“LIME is fully cognisant of the far-reaching benefits of sports development at all levels and as such we have created and aligned ourselves with events that hone and unearth talent,” said Lee, speaking at the launch on Wednesday at the studios of TVJ.

In addition to sponsorship of the March 24-28 games, LIME will be providing financial assistance of over $3 million to schools through various initiatives.

This includes the hosting of the increasingly popular LIME ‘Journey to Champs’ school tour and pep rallies, for which six high schools have been selected based on their performance in last year’s Championship. LIME will award each institution $100,000. This donation will ultimately go toward the athletes’ preparations.

The LIME Journey to Champs has already visited Hydel High School, Jamaica College, St Jago High School and Edwin Allen High School. The fun team will be visiting Calabar High School and Kingston College in the coming weeks.

At the community level, LIME has been travelling around the country hosting the ‘I Run Dis Town’ promotion, in search of the fastest man and woman in various towns. Winners will receive $25,000 cash and another $25,000 will go to the school of their choice. This money will go directly into the chosen school’s preparation for the upcoming games.

“In an effort to spread our wings to more schools, this year LIME, with a joint effort from ISSA, will be investing an additional $2 million to be shared amongst participating schools as an encouragement to excel in the 2015 games,” Lee went on.

As the countdown for the 2015 ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ & Girls’ Championships begins, LIME through its social media channels Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will be keeping fans up to date with all the Champs happenings as well as giving fans a chance to cheer on their schools, connect with other school supporters, and the opportunity to win great prizes.

Meanwhile, Claire Grant, general manager of TVJ, exclusive broadcasters of the event, announced that her company will be adding its latest technological expansion of over-the-top television technology, which will allow viewers an opportunity to access the event “anywhere, anytime, on any device with strong and reliable Internet support”.

Local viewers can download the app for free at spotmedia.com to view the event live for free.

And TVJ, in tandem with ISSA, will also offer a pay-per-view service which will allow viewers outside of Jamaica to capture the event for a fee of US$4.99 per day or US$9.99 for any combination of days.

“The dedicated platform for this service will be released this weekend, and much of the money earned from this service is earmarked to go back into ISSA’s coffers to develop track and field and all the sports that ISSA is involved in,” said Grant.