The Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run has seen exponential growth since its launch 18 years ago, raising over $200 million to date, the organisers shared in a news release yesterday.

“Its first staging in 1999 at Breezy Castle, along the waterfront in downtown Kingston, saw Sigma Investment Management Systems raise $700,000, from an initial target of $500,000 with 297 runners crossing the finish line,” Sagicor stated.

The money raised was used to fund heart surgeries for 20 children by the Jamaica Foundation for Cardiac Disease. Fast-forward to 2016, Sagicor Group Jamaica, through fund-raising and donations, raised $35 million for three beneficiaries — Black River Hospital, kids with cancer, and Jamaica Cancer Society — with close to 25,000 entrants registered for the event.

As Sagicor grew as a company, so did the number of participants and the donations raised at the corporate runs.

“We became a part of the Sagicor Group, one of the largest institutions in the Caribbean. And the owners understood the value of the corporate run,” co-race director Gina Harrison said as she reflected on the growth of the event over the years. “Sagicor’s vision is that the event should always be the biggest in terms of the number of participants and the number of donations.”

Sagicor covers the cost of staging the race. “Every dollar earned from race participants, sponsors and donors goes to the beneficiaries. The yearly targets are met through entry fees, online donations from the local and diaspora communities, as well as fund-raising activities initiated by staff at Sagicor,” Harrison explained.

Between 2014 and 2016, Sagicor raised $82 million. During the five-year period 2009 to 2013, the corporate run raised $89.7 million under Pan Caribbean Financial Services, surpassing its targets every year except in 2012. By this time the race moved to New Kingston, culminating at Emancipation Park, as a result of an increase in the number of participants.

Five years prior, the corporate run raised $12 million, more than quadrupling the $2.7 million it raised in the first five years (1999-2003) under the ownership of Sigma Investment Management Systems and Manufacturers Sigma Merchant Bank.

Sagicor is hoping to raise $60 million at its 19th staging on Sunday, February 19, to provide lifesaving equipment and supplies for the paediatric units at Mandeville and Spanish Town hospitals, as well as to strengthen the operations of the Bethlehem Home for abandoned children and babies operated by Missionaries of the Poor.

“The growth and achievement of this event is phenomenal and one which every Jamaican should be proud of,” Sagicor Group President and CEO Richard Byles said at the press launch of this year’s event.

Organisations such as Sohpie’s Place, Mustard Seed Communities, the University Hospital of the West Indies, Jamaica AIDS Support for Life, as well as the renal units of Cornwall Regional, Kingston Public and Victoria Jubilee hospitals have all benefited from the race over the years.