THIS year’s 15th staging of the Jamaica Reggae Marathon could realise a nominal figure of more than US$960,000. This projection was made by deputy director of Tourism Jason Hall, who was guest speaker at the Reggae Marathon launch at the Altamont Court Hotel in Kingston on Wednesday.

“Events on a whole are a critical part of any tourist board’s mix (as) they provide that additional pull. An event like the Reggae Marathon is uniquely a hybrid as it includes sports tourism… it incorporates communitybased tourism and it also includes volunteerism,” Hall said.

The Reggae Marathon, Hall noted, is a money spinner that contributes to the economy. “Well, to the extent that the event is able to attract visitors and generate room occupancy alone speaks to the economy multiplier.

“You fill rooms the inputs into the hotel occupancy speak to the agricultural industry, to transportation and numerous other inputs. There is also temporary employment (and) let us not forget that the entire community of Negril gets involved in Reggae Marathon,” he added. With a projected increase of attendance at Reggae Marathon, Hall was asked to put a dollar figure to what this year’s event can generate.

“I cannot speak to what the projections will be this year, but we actually have an economic model that we are using to determine what the economic impact is, but I can draw some inferences from other data we’ve had.

“For example, the work of Jamaica Sport to date has yielded some four thousand visitors to the island to date in nine months of operation… we have sponsored events that have attracted 4,000 visitors and have created approximately 1,3000 room nights, which in turn have yielded an overall economic impact of US$6,000,000. “So right off the bat you can assess the potentiality of a sport tourism event.

In the case of Reggae Marathon, you have heard that there are some 47 countries that will be represented at Reggae Marathon with approximately 1,200 visitors. If you look at an average stay of four nights per visitor that will translate into 4,800 room nights then we use a multiplier for the ease of math, say US$200.00.

Multiply 200 by 4,800 (and that) will yield US$960,000. But then of course we all know that there are more attractions than the hotels. There are transportation services, shopping, the restaurants… the multiplier is huge,” Hall ended.

The IAAF Reggae Marathon is set for December 5 to be contested along the famed seven-mile strip of white sand beach of Negril. The Reggae Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K events will begin and end at Long Bay Beach Park on Norman Manley Boulevard. Start time is at 5:15 am sharp.

The course is mostly flat and loops into the town of Negril then heads north towards the town of Green Island. Entry rates for the events are J$7,000 for the marathon, $6,000 for the half marathon and $5,000 for the 10K.

Participants are encouraged to register before November 30, as there is a J$2,000 penalty for late entries to each category. Race director, Alfred ‘Frano’ Francis, challenged Jamaican athletes to come good at the event, as anyone who breaks any of the existing records will receive double the winning prize money for the event.

Prize money for the events, according to Francis, remains at approximately J$1,000,000. Male record holder of the Reggae Marathon is Pamenos Ballentyne of St Vincent and the Grenadines set in 2001 at 2:21:0.5, while Ramilia Burangulova of Russia holds the female section at 2:42:25.

The male and female record holders for separate sections of the Reggae Half Marathon are Kenyans Moses Macharia at a time of 1:08:32 and Jackline Toror at 1:16:12, respectively. Both times were recorded in the 2001 campaign.

Reggae 10K record holder is Shawn Pitter of Jamaica with a time of 29:55 recorded in 2012, with the record holder for the female event being held by Carrie Tollefson of the USA with a time of 36:17.

Of the six records established at the Reggae Marathon events, the 10K for males is the only one held by a Jamaican.