It’s money well spent, said group CEO of the title sponsor GraceKennedy, Don Wehby, after witnessing yet another stellar Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships last week.

The GraceKennedy Group has been sponsoring the championship since 2007, and this year their total package was worth $110 million in cash and kind.

“This is actually our single -largest investment in terms of marketing throughout the GraceKennedy Group anywhere in the world. We spend over a million US every year and I think it’s money well spent,” Wehby told the Jamaica Observer on Monday as he attended champions Calabar High’s devotion at the school’s Red Hills Road campus.

“It’s an investment in our schools, it’s an investment in youth, investment in education, investment in our country,” Wehby noted.

“We have been sponsoring the championship for the last 10 years and it is fair to say that this year was one of the most exciting championships I have ever seen,” he added.

Calabar High won their sixth-straight championships by three points for their 27th lien on the prestigious Mortimer Geddes trophy, while Edwin Allen captured their fourth-consecutive title and their fifth overall, having first tasted victory in 2012.

“The KC/Calabar duel was fantastic, but we must not forget the performance of Edwin Allen. I saw some young ladies breaking some serious records and I think that really signified how good a championship it was,” said Wehby.

“It’s one of the best I have seen, and as sponsors we are very proud of it,” he reiterated.

Meanwhile, Wehby, who won the Class Three 100m hurdles at Champs in 1978 as a St George’s College student, thought the record run in the boy’s Class One 110m hurdles stood out in his memory as one of the best at the meet.

“I am a past hurdler, so Russell’s run in the Class One 110m hurdles was fantastic. It was said that he was injured and when I saw the 13.21 seconds that he ran, I thought that was fantastic,” Wehby explained.

Wehby, now 52 years old, also captured silver in both the 110m hurdles and the 400m hurdles in 1982.

“Obviously Christopher Taylor’s run was very good, and some of the ladies ran under 24 seconds which was fantastic. The fellow in the 5,000m, Rodgers, actually ran very well too. All in all, there were some great performances,” he added.

“We are also very proud of the discipline that is being displayed over the last number of years by all. So we are happy, GraceKennedy is very happy, and we are going to continue to sponsor the championships as long as possible,” Wehby emphasised.

“I can tell you from now, we are not going to be associated with any indiscipline. I prefer not to sponsor than being associated with indiscipline. So this is something I know that ISSA (Inter Secondary School Association) and the police and everybody over the years have been working on very hard to ensure that we have an incident-free Champs, and it is working well. I want to congratulate ISSA and the police for this effort,” he added.

Wehby noted that the number of non-traditional schools coming through to make an impact is a particular source of pleasure for him.

“I am also happy about the number of non-traditional schools like Spalding, etc, winning relays and Petersfield’s name being called, and that again is success for GraceKennedy. When you see the non-traditional schools performing very well and beating the traditional schools, it shows that we are doing something right,” he concluded.